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List:       kde-licensing
Subject:    Re: Debian FUD and whining
From:       forge <forge () myrealbox ! com>
Date:       2000-06-18 15:15:47
[Download RAW message or body]

Joseph Carter wrote:
> 
> On Sun, Jun 18, 2000 at 09:30:40AM -0500, mosfet wrote:
> > Okay, I'm now convinced Debian (specifically Joe Carter) are not
> > being
> > legitimate in their licensing complaints and are now just being
> > malicious.
> >
> > First of all, KDE is not illegal. As I mentioned on the kde@kde.org
> > thread, US and German law both have provisions for something called
> > "intent".
> 
> You completely ignore the very blatant and obvious case of kghostscript
> which was not written by KDE and therefore KDE has absolutely no right
> whatsoever to relicense.  I've come to expect ignoring the obvious from
> you, so welcome to my killfile.


<next mosfet paragraph>
The second issue is if we can use KGhostview in kdeutils. This includes
code copyrighted by a third party. Ironically, this may be a legit
complaint but it's never what Debian people complain about because it's
only one application and makes it much less of an issue to leverage
against the KDE project :( Either way, I would like to hear from the
actual copyright holders about it rather than self appointed 
evangelists who claim were doing illegal things even when we are not.
</next mosfet paragraph>

Before you go tossing critics into your kill file remember "Forge's 
law" -: Read the whole comment before writing a response.  The text 
at the bottom was taken from the same message.

Now will you two shake hands, smoke a joint and act mature here ?  
Nobody is going to sue.  The only ones who could sue and have ground to 
stand on are the authors of ghostview and perhaps Alan Cox who claims 
to own code in kfloppy.  He also said KDE's use of it was ok by him. 

If Debian is afraid of meritless lawsuits with 0 chance of success then 
you should disband.  That is not a flame but a statement of fact.  You 
see there is nothing stopping me from filing a suite claiming you are 
abusing the middle name of my ex girlfriend ( Deborah.  Debian for 
short )

This suite has as much merit as one by Musfet over linking with QT but 
in either case you will have to defend it in court and hope VA or the 
like can come up with your legal fees.

If your concern is about the *principle* of not distributing anything 
without a clear and consistent license by your own standards then that 
is fine.  I don't have to agree with that but it's a position I respect
and will even defend in your absence.

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