Re: Microsoft needs a help strategy

[Rjack]

Hyman Rosen wrote:
> Rjack wrote:
> > Verizon told them to kiss their ass and the only result was a 
> > voluntary dismissal WITH PREJUDICE. Hasn't Alexander taught you 
> > anything at all?
>
> Verizon provides a download link for firmware for routers manufactured
> by Actiontec. Actiontec makes the GPLed sources available. The Verizon
> URL contains the words "actiontec gateway", and without knowing the
> details of what is going on at Verizon, it is difficult to say whether
> Verizon is violating the GPL or not, and whether it is doing so in a way
> that a court would find problematic.
>
> This is a very slim hope to hang GPL opposition upon.

Yeh... While you hang your hopes of GPL validity on the word of Eben 
Moglen, the crackpot who announced "licenses are not contracts".
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/enforcing-gpl.html

This pronouncement is in defiance of eighty years of federal 
jurisprudence holding a license to be a contract:

-- "Whether express or implied, a license is a contract 'governed
by ordinary principles of state contract law.'"; McCoy v.
Mitsuboshi Cutlery, Inc., 67. F.3d 917, (United States Court of
Appeals for the Federal Circuit 1995) --

-- "Although the United States Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C.  101-
1332, grants exclusive jurisdiction for infringement claims to the
federal courts, those courts construe copyrights as contracts and
turn to the relevant state law to interpret them."; Automation by
Design, Inc. v. Raybestos Products Co., 463 F.3d 749, (United
States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit 2006) --

so pinning your hopes on a crackpot like Moglen is slim hope indeed.

Sincerely,
Rjack :)