Alan Cox wrote:
That's a valid point, but in the US anyone can sue anyone else over just
about anything and it's not over till the appeals are used up. How can
you be sure that someone won't claim ownership of some obscure parts of
Linux and sue over that - again?
You can't, but you can at least try not to ship anything which you know
someone else has rights over, which is after all triple damages for
knowingly offending. So I correct myself - if you have $3.6billion feel
free to ship a Fedora with MP3 support.
Everyone involved _thought_ they had rights to distribute the mp3 code
covered in this suit. There's no way to be any more sure than that
about any code, and Linux is certainly no exception with it's
long-running unsettled litigation still going on. If SCO would happen
to win, they'd then probably have a basis for going after other
distributors with that 'knowingly offending' clause since their claims
were asserted long ago.
--
Les Mikesell
lesmikesell@xxxxxxxxx
