Re: What is source ?

[David Kastrup]

Tim Smith <reply_in_group@mouse-potato.com> writes:

> In article <85d5bd61wr.fsf@lola.goethe.zz>, David Kastrup wrote:
>> Competitors might try to sue for misleading advertising, but that's about
>> it.  There are no warranties, implied or otherwise, coming with GPLed
>> software.  The only person who has standing to sue for non-compliance is
>> the copyright holder himself.  As a recipient of misleadingly
>> GPL-labelled, or incomplete software, you can't sue your source for
>> compliance.  You can only report this to the copyright holder, and he
>> might consider action.
>
> Well, there will be no cause of action under copyright law, but
> there might be under contract.  When party X promises something, and
> party Y detrimentally relies on that, then the doctrine of
> promissory estoppel can make it so there is effectively an
> enforcable contract.

If the promise is explicitly to party Y.  But we are not talking about
the case of an independent _announcement_ or promise, but of
mislabeled software.  There is no reason for party Y to rely on
anything since Y can _download_ what is offered and check its
suitability immediately.

-- 
David Kastrup, Kriemhildstr. 15, 44793 Bochum