[colug-432] Open Source

[Bill Schwanitz]

On Oct 28, 2013, at 6:57 PM, tom <thomas.w.cranston at gmail.com> wrote:

> On 10/28/2013 05:23 PM, William Yang wrote:
>> On 10/27/2013 06:43 PM, tom wrote:
>>> Let's assume I take open source code after reading it's license and
>>> agreeing that any changes to it must be released as open source. I then
>>> modify the code, but then tack my own private license to it. How would I
>>> be punished for doing so?
>>> 
>>> Tom
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> colug-432 mailing list
>>> colug-432 at colug.net
>>> http://lists.colug.net/mailman/listinfo/colug-432
>>> 
>> First, you need an attorney to explain copyright law to you, not a
>> technically oriented mailing list.
>> 
>> Second...  the consequences are going to depend on who the copyright
>> holder actually is, the detailed license terms involved and what kind of
>> damage is being caused to the copyright holder by your infringement (in
>> the view of the copyright holder and, in turn, in the view of the courts).
>> 
>> Finally... copyright infringement can have fines paid to the government,
>> damages paid to the copyright holder, and could include jail time or
>> other sanctions by the courts.  It's not a great idea, and
> 
>> it's a really
>> unwise to post on a public mailing list trying to figure this out.
>> That's a discoverable record of your plan to willfully infringe, which
>> as I understand it creates greater penalties.
>> 
>> 	-Bill
>> --
>> William Yang
>> wyang at gcfn.net
> I am not planning to do so. Just a hypothetical question to determine 
> consequences. It is stated that Goldman Sachs did do so.
> 
> See the Vanity Fair article about it:
> 
> http://www.vanityfair.com/business/2013/09/michael-lewis-goldman-sachs-programmer
> 
> Tom


I think there are a few things we all can take away from this:

1) the legalities of open source ( or any ) licensing is tricky and rather involved.
2) Without additional information from Tom ( either to the list or in private ) it is very difficult to really help here…
3) This would make for a really great discovery/presentation at a LUG meeting ;)

When I went to the maker fair at cosi a few weeks back there was a law firm present which was offering up some basic information/advertising of services. I had a question somewhat along these lines ( ping me if interested, very different context ). He had given some pretty insightful information.

I found the paperwork from the firm at the maker fair - Ice Miller LLP, www.icemiller.com. Is it worth reaching out to see if they would have an interest in doing some kind of presentation or if one of their attournies would be willing to come to a meeting and do a q/a session for a bit? The guy I talked with was pretty cool and very helpful. ( Certainly someone else speak up if you know of someone who would be willing to do this - I think it would be a fun meeting )

>From what Tom was asking I can’t tell if this is an issue of dual licensing or if he is doing some kind of commercial offering/product.

Bill