[Date Prev][Date Next] [Thread Prev][Thread Next] [Date Index] [Thread Index]

Re: Legal risk of software authoring?



On Wed, Feb 14, 2001 at 06:11:07PM -0500, William T Wilson wrote:

> I am thinking that while it might not be possible to shut down a Gnutella
> or Freenet by suing the operating company, it might be possible to stifle
> development by suing individual software authors.

<ianal>Yes, you're right. Be prepared for legal action of some kind if
you do _any_ multimedia or peer-to-peer work, either because of DRM,
charges of contributory infringement, or because of someone's bogus
software patent.</ianal> We live in interesting times.

If you're a peer-to-peer developer, Robin Gross at EFF will give you
a consultation to help you get your legal act together _before_ the
lawsuit happens.

-- 
Don Marti              "I've never sent or received a GIF in my life." 
dmarti@zgp.org            -- Bruce Schneier, Secrets and Lies, p. 246.
http://zgp.org/~dmarti/        (Free the Web: http://burnallgifs.org/)



Reply to: