On Tue, 2009-07-07 at 21:11 +0100, Rui Miguel Silva Seabra wrote:
On Tue, Jul 07, 2009 at 04:06:02PM +0200, drago01 wrote:
> On Tue, Jul 7, 2009 at 12:02 PM, Rui Miguel Silva Seabra wrote:
> > On Tue, Jul 07, 2009 at 11:07:52AM +0200, drago01 wrote:
> >> > The promise makes quite sure to tell you you have no right[1], but you
can
> >> > infringe that they won't sue *you*[2].
> >> >
> >> > [1] => means you can't do it with GPL
> >>
> >> It explicitly grant this right.
> >
> > What you're explicitly told s that you won't be sued if you do so
without the right.
> >
> > And you have no right!
>
> If I told you "you can do whatever you want with this and I won't sue
> you" or "you have the right to implement this"
>
> Where exactly is the difference?
In one you can be sued (because it's not only Microsoft who can do that in some
jurisdictions) and you're doing something which is illegal.
At the risk of getting bogged down in details: My understanding is that,
in such countries, in order to have any standing in such a case, the
third party bringing the suit against you would have to have some claim
to a grievance against you as a result of your illegal action against
Microsoft. I would be delighted to hear a scenario in which you think
this could arise.
Also, please do remember that it is _not_ in itself illegal to
distribute software that embodies someone else's patent. It's only
illegal to do so without the owner's consent. If this is _not_ the case
in some country, then everyone in that country needs to stop using the
Linux kernel right now, because - to pick a trivial example - RCU is
definitely patented.
I mean, basically you're asserting that - for whatever bizarro country
you're talking about - not only can you not waive your own property
rights, but other people can be sued for accepting your waiver at face
value. Now, there do exist a handful of countries that haven't accepted
the Berne Convention, but they tend to be countries with an even weaker
notion of copyright...
- ajax