[Info-vax] [Attn: HP Employees] PDP-11 OS hobbyist licensing

[Phillip Helbig---undress to reply]

In article <524d22b5$0$61585$c3e8da3$f017e9df at news.astraweb.com>, JF
Mezei <jfmezei.spamnot at vaxination.ca> writes: 

> > I think you seriously misunderstand the entire concept.  If HP owns the 
> > copyright, and HP decides not to respond, this does not weaken their 
> > claim to copyright.
> 
> If I write to HP, asking HP to confirm whether they still have the
> copyright originally held by Digital and they do not respond, what do I do ?

Cry?  I don't know.

If I write to Claudia Schiffer and say "I want to fuck you" and she does 
not respond, then am I immune from prosecution if I later rape her?  No.

The situations are actually quite similar.  As Brad Templeton, whose 
article on copyright myths I linked to, points out, copyright is not 
really about physical copies, but about control.  (Brad is the (former?) 
chairman of the EFF and is certainly on the liberal/libertarian side of 
the fence.  If HE thinks it's illegal, you can be pretty sure it IS 
illegal.  (Whether it SHOULD be illegal is another question, but not 
relevant here.))

> "hello, are you the ones to whom I need to send money if I wish to have
> right to use the source code ?"  If HP doesn't reply, can then then come
> back to me with a lawsuit accusing me of copyright infringement ?

Yes, most definitely.  Whether they WOULD is another question.

I once saw a television interview (maybe on the Phil Donahue show) about 
a pimp in the USA.  Prostitution is illegal in the USA (with some small 
exceptions).  Of course, like many other things, it exists even though 
it is illegal.  But how could he discuss his business model on national 
television with no fear of retribution?  Because TECHNICALLY he ran a 
business supplying nude models (which is not illegal, not even in the 
USA).  TECHNICALLY his models were raped by the clients.  There is no 
REQUIREMENT to report rape.  (His fee was $69, of which the model kept 
$50 and his commission was $19.)  So, there COULD be a difference 
between what HP could legally do and what they might actually do.  
However, if they choose not to prosecute you, then you cannot claim any 
right, just as the models could always accuse the customers of rape if 
they wanted to do so.  (In the case of the pimp, neither he, nor the 
models, nor the customers had any interest in upsetting this "
gentlemen's agreement; in the case of you and HP, the situation is not 
clear.)

> If I show the judge that I did due diligence, and had leads pointing to
> HP, but HP did not respond, do you really think the judge will look that
> kindly at HP's lawsuit against me ?

Yes.

> If you write a final request to HP, stating that due to lack of
> response, this is to be your last request and that if HP does not repond
> within X days (where X might be 45 or something like that), you will
> assume that HP will not exert any rights over the PDP 11 software and
> grant me implicit permission to use the sourse, and HP does not respond,
> how do you think a judge would side ?

Suppose I wrote a similar ultimatum to Claudia Schiffer.  What would the 
judge say?