Ole, On Wed, 06 Dec 2006, Ole Husgaard wrote:
> Brian F. G. Bidulock wrote: > > IANAL, but in that case, it appears the plantiff got precisely > > what they asked of the German court. > > To answer your question: I am not a lawyer, but I know quite a > bit about copyright law. > > > Running under a dual-licensed model, I could ask for punitive > > damages from lost royalties as well. (Also described at > > http://www.gpl-violations.org/ -- the applicant in the Fortinet > > action.) > > In most countries with copyright laws based on the continental > copyright tradition, the author may ask an infringer for financial > compensation even if the author had no monetary loss. > > US copyright law is not based on the continental tradition, and > I am not sure if statutory damages apply if the copyright owner > had no monetary loss. But even if the copyright holder had no > monetary loss, he is entitled to the profits the infringer had > due to the infringement. I believe that in the US, if the software was registered with the US copyright office (really just one page) before the infringement, the holder is entitled to $100,000.00 USD without showing punitive damages. Other than that, each side bears its own legal costs (in most states). In Canada, the applicant's legal costs to bring the action are also considered damages and are often awarded by the court. > > So a dual-licensed model is not a requirement for being awarded > damages. Those of us who write and distribute software under the > GPL/LGPL only also have ample opportunities. The reason we almost > never see GPL/LGPL infringement cases where damages or compensation > is awarded is that it is easier to stop the infringement when the > case isn't complicated by the question of damages. I agree, it does not appear to be a requirement. In almost all case shown at gpl-violations.org, although the application only sought injunction, the violators always seem to have also made a "contribution" to the authors or project. So how do you feel about _your_ GPL'ed code (ldl) being distributed with LiS with not even so much as a copy of the GPL license? --brian -- Brian F. G. Bidulock ¦ The reasonable man adapts himself to the ¦ [email protected] ¦ world; the unreasonable one persists in ¦ http://www.openss7.org/ ¦ trying to adapt the world to himself. ¦ ¦ Therefore all progress depends on the ¦ ¦ unreasonable man. -- George Bernard Shaw ¦ _______________________________________________ Linux-streams mailing list [email protected] http://www.openss7.org/mailman/listinfo/linux-streams
