On Fri, Oct 07, 2011 at 08:16:32PM +1000, Weaver wrote: > This Intellectual property rubbish is beginning to make me angry. > What now? > Are we expected, each and everyone of us, supposed to pay a stipend to > some johnny-come-lately opportunist? Not necessarily. That is why we have courts to decide these things. If the court decides that Johnny Come-Lately (herein referred to as Mr Come-Lately) does own the intellectual property, then yes. In this case, Debian would likely have to drop the relevant package(s) and seek some other source of the data. If, however, the court decides that Mr Come-Lately doesn't have a claim or that the time-zone data wasn't infringing, then no, I see no reason to pay someone for something they have no right to request payment for. However, the nice thing about the system is the ability to challenge such claims. Be thankful you live in a world with such freedoms. -- Darac Marjal
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