Re: Fw: [FSF] FSF Settles Suit Against Cisco

[Hyman Rosen]

Rjack wrote:
> equate "dismissed with prejudice" with winning the requested  relief

Of course not, because winning the requested relief isn't the goal of
the suit. The goal of the suit is compliance with the GPL. However,
since acceptance of the GPL is voluntary, the suit must be filed as a
request for relief due to copyright violation, and as usual in any
lawsuit the claims are made in a maximal fashion, just as the defenses
are.

> which is the measure by which victory is measured in a court of law.

The measure of victory is whether stated goals are achieved. The stated
goal of the FSF is always, before, during, and after the lawsuits, only
compliance with the GPL.

> Defendant Cisco told plaintiff FSF to dismiss WITH PREJUDICE or else
> -- and that's exactly what the plaintiff FSF did -- they turned tail
> and ran.

You show even less sense than usual, given that Linksys was already
maintaining a GPLed sources webpage for their products. The complaint
was because they were failing to maintain it in a timely fashion in
proper correspondence with new products and versions. The dismissal,
as always, was because the defendants agreed to comply with the GPL.

Dismissal with prejudice is routine in settled cases.
Here's a recent example:
<http://imperialvalleynews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5222&Itemid=2>
    "Terminator Salvation" Lawsuit Dismissed With Prejudice After
    Settlement Reached
    Hollywood, California - Halcyon Co. co-CEOs Derek Anderson and
    Victor Kubicek and producer Moritz Borman announced today that
    Mr. Borman’s lawsuit against Halcyon has been dismissed with
    prejudice after the two sides amicably resolved all of the
    outstanding differences between them related to the upcoming
    film “Terminator Salvation.”

    Said Messrs. Borman, Anderson and Kubicek: “We are glad to have
    these issues behind us so we can focus on working with our
    filmmakers and our studio partners at Warner Bros and Sony
    Pictures to give Terminator fans the next amazing installment in
    this enduring series of films.”