Hello, I am currently doing a project for a small software firm. I want to use CakePHP as my framework but I ran into some issues with the owner of the project. Before I start with the details, I would like to say offhand that I need some serious advice regarding this issue. So it would be best if my questions were answered someone on the CakePHP team with knowledge and understanding of how the U.S. legal and patent system works.
Please note that these are issues raised by my employer and we differ slightly in our approach and opinions when it comes to using software developed out in the open. Let's just say that he has been around long enough to know that frivolous lawsuits can arise from the smallest infractions and that he has been through enough lawsuits to make himself wary. His concerns actually got me into thinking "What if..." as well. The USPTO is inundated with trivial patents and patent filings. I am wary as well that some nutjob out there with some cash, a patent portfolio, and a website will do something similar to what Eolas did to Microsoft. Okay here are his concerns as I have come to understand them: * Cake Software Foundation, why is it registered in Nevada? None of the founding members seem to be from or living in Nevada. As far as he is concerned, Nevada registered corps are usually doing something shady or want to be "unreachable" to a certain extent. * Submarine patents. What's to prevent someone, I presume another corp registered in Nevada, from suing or harassing CakePHP users with a lawsuit. He pictures it this way... CakePHP becomes so widespread, then some bright spark files for a patent for something that is crucial to CakePHP and then sues or harasses CakePHP users. In the extreme case, and I really hope this does not happen, one of the core CakePHP developers sets up what he calls a "shy" or "sideline" company and then files for patents and then sues or harasses CakePHP users. * Cake Software Foundation, again. To what extent is the foundation's responsibilities to users of CakePHP with regards to legal actions. Will the foundation help to defend users being harassed or sued by a holder of a submarine patent? An attack on a CakePHP user is an attack on CakePHP itself. It sets a precedent if the attack becomes successful and paves the way for attacks on other CakePHP users. * CSL and CCSL. This one is my concern. I don't know if he has read these documents yet. - How strict is the foundation in auditing and accepting contributions? - What consists a "contribution" in this case? Patches submitted through Trac? Whole tracts of code spanning several files? - In either case, are contributions being audited properly to ensure that they contain "clean IP"? - Is the CSL or CCSL legally binding in all U.S. states? What about worldwide? * Cake Software Foundation, yet again. Who are the board members? Only the founding and team members are listed in http://www.cakefoundation.org/pages/about when the current members are about to be replaced, who gets to decide the replacements? How are future board members prevented from taking the Foundation into a different (read: evil) direction? That's about it with regards to the issues that need to be clarified. Please note the following: * All the concerns listed above are my employer's, with the exception of the concerns regarding CSL and CCSL (those are mine, as I wish to contribute some patches to CakePHP someday). * It is not my intention to start a flamewar about these things. My intention is to seek advise from those *in the know* so that I can provide a case for using CakePHP on this project and future projects. So please, make sure to check your ideologies with the big guy at the door before responding :) * I would also appreciate it very much if someone were to direct me to suitable reference online in addition to the following: http://www.cakefoundation.org/pages/about http://www.cakefoundation.org/pages/cla http://www.cakefoundation.org/pages/agreement http://www.cakefoundation.org/pages/bylaws * Here are some articles he pointed out to me: http://www.chillingeffects.org/ecom/ - list of lawsuits involving E-commerce sites pay special attention to the Pangea Intellectual Properties entry. http://htmlfixit.com/?p=72 - one of the companies sued by PanIP. Eolas has been kind enough not to sue the Mozilla Foundation. It seems to be the case in the USPTO that if you apply for a patent enough times, eventually you will get an examiner who is too lazy to look things up and then you get a patent. Thanks in advance. -- _nimrod_a_abing_ [?] http://abing.gotdns.com --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Cake PHP" group. To post to this group, send email to cake-php@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cake-php?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
