Kernel contributions from organisations and individual privacy

[Jeff Haran]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: kernelnewbies-bounces at kernelnewbies.org [mailto:kernelnewbies-
> bounces at kernelnewbies.org] On Behalf Of Rik van Riel
> Sent: Thursday, June 11, 2015 4:38 PM
> To: kernelnewbies at kernelnewbies.org
> Subject: Re: Kernel contributions from organisations and individual privacy
> 
> On 06/11/2015 07:26 PM, Ruben Safir wrote:
> 
> > Not at all.  You have a good point there are definitely legal
> > situations other than relicensing which are problematic.
> >
> > Lets say Apple decides that are going to take the Linux Kernel and
> > alter it extensively, in order for it to work with a new hardware
> > platform that they created. And lets say don't return the code base to the
> public.
> > Now who is going to protect the license and sue them?  You have
> > literaly thousands of partiticpants who have standing now in this case.
> 
> That means a thousand possible plaintiffs.
> 
> s/Apple/VMware/ and you get this:
> 
> http://sfconservancy.org/news/2015/mar/05/vmware-lawsuit/
> 

I don't see in that web site the amount of damages they are asking for. Maybe I missed it.

Might get more money coming in for the plaintiff's lawyers if instead of asking
for contributions that yield a tee shirt, it was constructed more like an investment,
as in X% of total "contributions" gets the investor X% of (damages - legal fees)
should they win.

Might as well use the patent troll model to do some good for a change. 8^)

Jeff Haran