[lugm.org] Fwd: [FTF-Legal] Mildly GPL related case in Supreme Court of Mauritius
Aadil Noorkhan
aadil at lavabit.com
Tue Jun 28 15:19:56 UTC 2011
Hello,
Indeed. The defendant and plaintiff should seek the court's help in
settling this argument.
It is disturbing to note, however, that statement 5 of the affidavit
contradicts the main points of the GPL.
This can used as a precedence for future cases.
Cheers,
Aadil.
On 6/28/2011 7:00 PM, Ajay R Ramjatan 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
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>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> __________________________________________________________
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>>>>>
>>>>
>>>
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>>
>>
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>
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