http://www.drunkenblog.com/drunkenblog-archives/000501.html
---
Recently I had some very, very disturbing news passed onto me regarding
what's going on with the product known as CherryOS.
There's been a lot of buzz about Cherry OS lately -- since they started
actually selling their product -- but there are some real pits in
Cherry OS, and the people behind it (MXS), that aren't getting enough
attention.
This isn't about nitpicking marketing claims, we're going to be
breaking down some really uncool stuff involving taking GPL-based code
from PearPC (among other projects) and completely false performance
claims being used to get people to hand over their cash.
[...]
If you're curious as to why Maui X-Stream, Inc. isn't being forced to
stop what they're doing, this is where things get a little tricky.
To my knowledge, the GPL has never been seriously tested in an American
court -- at least partially because it's considered to be legally
solid. It's certainly doubtful that IBM would be pushing it so heavily
with their own intellectual property if it was full of holes. It isn't
that open sourced code isn't misappropriated -- it is -- but usually
not by large companies (unless they're insane), and with smaller
companies there are some logistical nightmares involved.
A big stumbling block is that a bunch of guys contributing code in
their spare time after work generally don't have the money necessary to
launch a civil suit against a company to get an injunction, let alone
one in another state, let alone one in another state that's a Pacific
away. It gets worse when you realize not everyone is necessarily even
in the United States.
Remember, these interstate civil intellectual property suits are pretty
much the purview of corporations, not individuals. Unless someone else
is able to step in and file suit on their behalf, or they are able to
raise enough awareness that the company isn't able to continue doing
what they're doing, their options are limited.
