On Sun, 1 Jul 2007 10:31:00 -0700 Sean Kellogg wrote: [...] > I will try to explain a few > things based on what I know from law school. First up, there is a > pretty well established definition for what constitutes "legal > advice." It can be phrased as: "particular courses of action in > response to particular facts." The particularity is key. > > Here a good pair of examples -- > > Not Legal Advice: > Q: Is it true that a judge can reduce your traffic ticket. > A: Yes. > > Legal Advice: > Q: I got a traffic ticket for going 20 miles over the speed limit, > what should I do? > A: Go to the judge and argue for a decrease in the fine. My case was: Q: Could this requirement be interpreted more liberally? A: I wish it could, but I am afraid it cannot... :-( Frankly speaking, it seems more similar to your first example, than to your second one... I mean: we were *not* talking about particular facts. Iain Nicol was *not* telling me that he modified a GPLv3'd work and got sued by upstream because his newly implemented interactive interface does not display Appropriate Legal Notices. I did *not* suggest a particular course of action. I did *not* answer "the requirement cannot be interpreted more liberally, but you can instead tell the judge that ..." What we were doing was discussing about possible interpretations of a clause in a just-published license... [...] > Where Francesco went wrong, in my opinion, is > giving a definite answer to a definite question about a third-party > license. Is "I am afraid it cannot" a definite answer? It does not even seem to express certainty... I am not an English native speaker, so I could be wrong about what sounds as a definite answer to an English mothertongue's ear. Should I begin to add IANAENS, to the list of disclaimers? -- http://frx.netsons.org/doc/nanodocs/testing_workstation_install.html Need to read a Debian testing installation walk-through? ..................................................... Francesco Poli . GnuPG key fpr == C979 F34B 27CE 5CD8 DC12 31B5 78F4 279B DD6D FCF4
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