On Sat, 2003-03-29 at 17:12, Res wrote: > I know its a pain, took me all of 70 milliseconds to d/l it, (took longer > to write to disk then d/l'ing :) But its simple if RH wont give it to > you, you go get it off those that will, I agree its a stupid decision but > see RH's points as valid, I also don't see any of the distros being hit > with law suites, which I'm sure would have happened by now,
I disagree,,,its a perfectly valid (but unethical) tactic for the mp3 patent holder to wait and persue their mp3 copyrights after linux distributions are profittable enough to milk for money. Why would Thompson go after Mandrake for money right now...does mandrake have money to lose in a lawsuit? Does Red hat have money to lose right now? How about 3 years from now. Look 3 or 4 years from now, whoever is holding the patent rights for mp3s could take a look around and see the unauthorized use of mp3 technology in the "profitable" linux distros, and see them as perfectly valid and cost effective targets to sue for money. Mandrake better hope they never become so popular that the do become a profitable business...because if they ever become fat with cash, they become a much more likely target for the mp3 patent holder to sue them for a share of those profits. Red Hat is being very business smart by avoiding the risk of this 3 or 4 years down the line, when all goes well and they are making a reasonable profit on a desktop product. If Red Hat included unlicensed mp3 tech...once they were making real money off that product, the patent holders would come knocking, looking for their share. The GPL violations invovled with including GPL'd mp3 code right now probably lead to even more complicated legal scenarios. Any number of GPL code copyright holders could probably start legal proceedings against a distro who was including code that was in violation of the GPL. Just because no one has done it yet, doesn't mean no one will do it. And any licensing fight would really end up being a costly affair for a business like Red Hat. You can't run a sound business by doing things that are illegal, and hope you get away with it. And as consumers we should NEVER encourage that behavior. -jef
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