http://stormyscorner.com/2008/08/afraid-youll-get-sued-for-using-open-source-software-think-again.html Thu, 02 Feb 2012 12:13:34 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://stormyscorner.com/2008/08/afraid-youll-get-sued-for-using-open-source-software-think-again.html/comment-page-1#comment-1195 Alexander E. Patrakov Sun, 10 Aug 2008 02:00:11 +0000 http://stormyscorner.com/2008/08/afraid-youll-get-sued-for-using-open-source-software-think-again.html#comment-1195 See more Russian-specific analysis at http://www.altlinux.ru/media/otchet_dlia_publikacii/part4.html (in Russian) See more Russian-specific analysis at http://www.altlinux.ru/media/otchet_dlia_publikacii/part4.html (in Russian)

]]> http://stormyscorner.com/2008/08/afraid-youll-get-sued-for-using-open-source-software-think-again.html/comment-page-1#comment-1194 Alexander E. Patrakov Sun, 10 Aug 2008 01:58:06 +0000 http://stormyscorner.com/2008/08/afraid-youll-get-sued-for-using-open-source-software-think-again.html#comment-1194 6. Make sure that open-source software is legal at all in your country. Some think that it is not the case in Russia, because GPL (the very thing that grants you the right to use and distribute the software) doesn't fall into any of the available classes of legal documents. It cannot be an "author treaty", because the law requires that such a treaty has to contain the term for which the author grants certain rights to the recepient, and the author's share of money that should be received due to the use of the copyrighted work by the recepient. If any of these points is missing, the treaty is void. So, GPL is void as an "author treaty" in Russia. But nothing except an author treaty can grant you the right to use a copyrighted work. Boom... 6. Make sure that open-source software is legal at all in your country.
Some think that it is not the case in Russia, because GPL (the very thing that grants you the right to use and distribute the software) doesn’t fall into any of the available classes of legal documents. It cannot be an “author treaty”, because the law requires that such a treaty has to contain the term for which the author grants certain rights to the recepient, and the author’s share of money that should be received due to the use of the copyrighted work by the recepient. If any of these points is missing, the treaty is void. So, GPL is void as an “author treaty” in Russia. But nothing except an author treaty can grant you the right to use a copyrighted work. Boom…

]]> http://stormyscorner.com/2008/08/afraid-youll-get-sued-for-using-open-source-software-think-again.html/comment-page-1#comment-1193 Oli Sat, 09 Aug 2008 17:40:16 +0000 http://stormyscorner.com/2008/08/afraid-youll-get-sued-for-using-open-source-software-think-again.html#comment-1193 What about software patent indemnity? That's a phrase that I've seen popping up an awful lot recently... If a FOSS project loses a software patent case, is there any possibility there would be knock on cases made against its users? What about software patent indemnity? That’s a phrase that I’ve seen popping up an awful lot recently…
If a FOSS project loses a software patent case, is there any possibility there would be knock on cases made against its users?

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