[OT] Re: Unix Time Zone Format

[Camaleón <noelamac@gmail.com>]

On Fri, 07 Oct 2011 11:39:26 +0100, Darac Marjal wrote:

> 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.

Your last statement would be of full sense if the involved sites that 
host the whole project (and the "offending" files) would have been only 
shut down if the court finally finds there is enough arguments to claim 
for a copyright violation *but not before a final veredict*... unless 
(because it is not clear why the site is now unavailable) the involved 
parts have taken this action by their own.

But in the event they were forced to remove the site, what about the 
principle of presumption of innocence?

Shutting down the web sites as a "preventive measuremnt" is like I first 
shoot at your feet and then say: "Oops... sorry, I was not mean to do 
that!". IMO, such "preventive mesaurements" should not be taken for a 
lawsuit of this nature :-/

Greetings,

-- 
Camaleón