[lugm.org] Fwd: [FTF-Legal] Mildly GPL related case in Supreme Court of Mauritius

Tue Jun 28 15:13:33 UTC 2011

The defendant is and still will end up guilty, for he signed a
confidentiality agreement most probably, but point is the gpl is wrongly
used in this case, and can this later be used as a reference?

On Tue, Jun 28, 2011 at 11:00 AM, Ajay R Ramjatan
<ajay.ramjatan at gmail.com>wrote:

> Hi,
>
> From what I understand, the defendant was contracted to work on some
> code for Linux Solutions. The defendant decided to publish the code
> without the consent of the employer.
>
> If that's accurate, the defendant was doing a "work for hire" and  was
> in the wrong to release the code.
>
> It does not seem to be a case of a customer buying a PABX product from
> Linux Solutions and then changing/redistributing GPL code
>
> On Tue, Jun 28, 2011 at 18:46, Aadil Noorkhan <aadil at lavabit.com> wrote:
> > Hello,
> >
> > I agree with Ronny: we are not lawyers and not expert in FOSS licences.
>  But
> > we should have a better understanding of those licences than most people
> and
> > should point it to the law, while remaining neutral.
> >
> > Cheers,
> > Aadil.
> >
> > On 6/28/2011 6:40 PM, Ronny R. wrote:
> >>
> >> we can also make the applicant aware that we are keen to help the
> >> defendant
> >>
> >> On Tue, Jun 28, 2011 at 6:39 PM, Ronny R.<redoverlord at gmail.com>
>  wrote:
> >>>
> >>> hello
> >>>
> >>> my opinion is that
> >>> 1. we are not lawyers
> >>> 2. sending a letter to the court is of no use as we dont have any locus
> >>> standi
> >>> 3. we better advise defendant to counter affidavit the one of the
> >>> applicant and then we can be of some help
> >>> but please note that in no case can we act as expert og the GPL laws,
> >>> we can provide the text and let the lawyers of the defendant analyse
> >>> and show to the court.
> >>>
> >>> Cheers
> >>>
> >>> Ronny
> >>>
> >>> On Tue, Jun 28, 2011 at 6:26 PM, Aadil Noorkhan<aadil at lavabit.com>
> >>>  wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>> Hello,
> >>>>
> >>>> The fraudulent statements in the affidavit are disturbing indeed.
> >>>>
> >>>> We should inform the Supreme Court and both parties of the misleading
> >>>> statements via email and a letter, backed by solid evidence and signed
> >>>> by
> >>>> the LUGM managing committee, or simply the president.
> >>>>
> >>>> If no response is received then we sent the letter to the press.
> >>>>
> >>>> Cheers,
> >>>> Aadil.
> >>>>
> >>>> On 6/28/2011 5:24 PM, Avinash Meetoo wrote:
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Dear all,
> >>>>>
> >>>>> I have just received this email from Philip Hands in the UK referring
> >>>>> to
> >>>>> a case currently in the Supreme Court of Mauritius. It would seem
> that
> >>>>> the two parties involved have different opinions on what an open
> source
> >>>>> license really is, more specifically the GPL. Someone called Harald
> >>>>> Welte has written a post on his blog on this matter.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> A few months ago, someone called me at work asking me about what the
> >>>>> GPL
> >>>>> really means but I am not sure whether he is one of the parties
> >>>>> concerned.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> What do you think?
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Avinash
> >>>>>
> >>>>> ---
> >>>>> From: *Philip Hands*<phil at hands.com<mailto:phil at hands.com>>
> >>>>> Date: Tue, Jun 28, 2011 at 4:01 PM
> >>>>> Subject: [FTF-Legal] Mildly GPL related case in Supreme Court of
> >>>>> Mauritius
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Hi Avinash,
> >>>>>
> >>>>> I'm forwarding this to your mailing list in the hope that someone on
> >>>>> the list knows how to inform your Supreme Court properly.  It wasn't
> >>>>> clear to me if that was a subscriber-only list though, so I'm also
> >>>>> sending it to you direct, as you appear to to be the founder of the
> >>>>> LUG. I hope that's OK.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Here is the main point from the attached mail:
> >>>>>
> >>>>> http://laforge.gnumonks.org/weblog/2011/06/27/
> >>>>>
> >>>>> in which you can see that someone from http://www.linuxsolutions.mu/
> >>>>> seem to be claiming (under oath) that there is no difference between
> >>>>> GPL
> >>>>> licensed software, and Public Domain.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> I'm sure that any feedback that you have would be welcome, either on
> >>>>> the
> >>>>> ftf-legal-bounces at fsfeurope.org<mailto:
> ftf-legal-bounces at fsfeurope.org>
> >>>>> mailing list, or perhaps if you get in
> >>>>> touch with Harald Welte<laforge at gnumonks.org
> >>>>> <mailto:laforge at gnumonks.org>>, and he can then update
> >>>>> his blog (of course, you're welcome to reply to me as well).
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Cheers, Phil.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> P.S. FYI I'm a long-time Debian Developer, and have hosted the Debian
> >>>>> UK
> >>>>> mirror (ftp.uk.debian.org<http://ftp.uk.debian.org>) since the mid
> 90's
> >>>>> -- and I make occasional
> >>>>> contributions to the Free Software Foundation Europe mailing list
> where
> >>>>> this issue came up.
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> >>>>> From: Harald Welte<laforge at gnumonks.org<mailto:laforge at gnumonks.org
> >>
> >>>>> To: ftf-legal at fsfeurope.org<mailto:ftf-legal at fsfeurope.org>
> >>>>> Date: Tue, 28 Jun 2011 11:58:53 +0200
> >>>>> Subject: [FTF-Legal] Mildly GPL related case in Supreme Court of
> >>>>> Mauritius
> >>>>> Hi,
> >>>>>
> >>>>> since I don't expect everyone here is following my blog, I would like
> >>>>> to
> >>>>> post a small notice here:
> >>>>> http://laforge.gnumonks.org/weblog/2011/06/27/
> >>>>>
> >>>>> The case is mostly about whether or not a freelancing contractor
> >>>>> (defendant) has broken and NDA and anti-competition clauses he signed
> >>>>> with the plaintiff.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> I don't understand all the details as I have only some of the
> >>>>> documents, but for whatever reasons a "duly authorized marketing and
> >>>>> sales executive" of the company ceritifed under oath that
> "open-source
> >>>>> software like "Linux" have no copyright restrictions, which in effect
> >>>>> puts no restrictions on their user or distribution".  And
> furthermore,
> >>>>> "any work derived from the open source software [...] becomes the
> >>>>>  ownership of the applicant"
> >>>>>
> >>>>> I don't really see how this is cloesly related to the heart of the
> >>>>> case,
> >>>>> but I still think it's devastating to see such an argument be made in
> >>>>> front of the highest court of any (albeit small) country.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> I'm not sure what can be done by the outside world (e.g. us) to help
> >>>>> the
> >>>>> court understand that Linux as well as Asterisk are very well
> >>>>> copyrighted works, and that at least Linux is only available under
> >>>>> GPLv2, which has a number of conditions on its distribution.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> If anyone is interested in this, I have some more documetns that the
> >>>>> defendant has permitted me to share (not sure if he has authority to
> >>>>> permit that, but well...).
> >>>>>
> >>>>> (and in case you wonder, Mauritius has signed the Berne convention in
> >>>>>  1989).
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Specifically if anyone has an interest to send some kind of
> >>>>> letter/amicus curiae to the court clarifying the issue, it would be
> >>>>> great.  Apparently there are arguments on the lines of "you cannot
> just
> >>>>> download the GPL text from the internet and claim it is valid" etc.
> >>>>> The Judge seemed to describe himself as 'computer illiterate'.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Maybe there are also some existing English legal publications that
> one
> >>>>> could DHL/FedEx/UPS to the court ;)
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Regards,
> >>>>>        Harald
> >>>>> --
> >>>>> - Harald Welte<laforge at gnumonks.org<mailto:laforge at gnumonks.org>>
> >>>>> http://laforge.gnumonks.org/
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> ============================================================================
> >>>>> "Privacy in residential applications is a desirable marketing
> option."
> >>>>>                                                  (ETSI EN 300 175-7
> Ch.
> >>>>> A6)
> >>>>> _______________________________________________
> >>>>> FTF-Legal mailing list
> >>>>> FTF-Legal at fsfeurope.org<mailto:FTF-Legal at fsfeurope.org>
> >>>>> https://mail.fsfeurope.org/mailman/listinfo/ftf-legal
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>> --
> >>>>> |)|  Philip Hands [+44 (0)20 8530 9560
> >>>>> <tel:%5B%2B44%20%280%2920%208530%209560>] http://www.hands.com/
> >>>>> |-| HANDS.COM<http://HANDS.COM>  Ltd. http://www.uk.debian.org/
> >>>>> |(|  10 Onslow Gardens, South Woodford, London  E18 1NE  ENGLAND
> >>>>>
> >>>>> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>> --
> >>>>> *Avinash Meetoo**
> >>>>> **Managing-Director of Knowledge Seven*
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Call me on 493-9394 (Mobile) or 464-7446 (Office)
> >>>>> I am on my portal<http://www.avinashmeetoo.com/>, LinkedIn
> >>>>> <http://www.linkedin.com/in/avinashmeetoo>, Twitter
> >>>>> <http://twitter.com/AvinashMeetoo>  and Facebook
> >>>>> <http://www.facebook.com/avinashmeetoo>
> >>>>> Visit Knowledge Seven<http://www.knowledge7.com/>  and our other
> sister
> >>>>> websites<http://www.knowledge7.com/page/internet-services>
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>> __________________________________________________________
> >>>>> Linux User Group of Mauritius (LUGM) Discuss mailing list
> >>>>> Website: http://lugm.org
> >>>>> Mailing list archive: http://lugm.org/pipermail/discuss_lugm.org/
> >>>>> Forum: http://lugm.org/forum/
> >>>>> IRC: #linux.mu on Freenode
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> __________________________________________________________
> >>>> Linux User Group of Mauritius (LUGM) Discuss mailing list
> >>>> Website: http://lugm.org
> >>>> Mailing list archive: http://lugm.org/pipermail/discuss_lugm.org/
> >>>> Forum: http://lugm.org/forum/
> >>>> IRC: #linux.mu on Freenode
> >>>>
> >>>
> >>
> >> __________________________________________________________
> >> Linux User Group of Mauritius (LUGM) Discuss mailing list
> >> Website: http://lugm.org
> >> Mailing list archive: http://lugm.org/pipermail/discuss_lugm.org/
> >> Forum: http://lugm.org/forum/
> >> IRC: #linux.mu on Freenode
> >
> >
> > __________________________________________________________
> > Linux User Group of Mauritius (LUGM) Discuss mailing list
> > Website: http://lugm.org
> > Mailing list archive: http://lugm.org/pipermail/discuss_lugm.org/
> > Forum: http://lugm.org/forum/
> > IRC: #linux.mu on Freenode
> >
>
> __________________________________________________________
> Linux User Group of Mauritius (LUGM) Discuss mailing list
> Website: http://lugm.org
> Mailing list archive: http://lugm.org/pipermail/discuss_lugm.org/
> Forum: http://lugm.org/forum/
> IRC: #linux.mu on Freenode
>

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