Reply to post: Sleep well, you're fine.

It's a no to ZFS in the Linux kernel from me, says Torvalds, points finger of blame at Oracle licensing

sbt
Boffin

Sleep well, you're fine.

On the legal case question, I'll just add that if you're truly a minnow, the big fish won't bother you. If you're big enough to notice, get a proper lawyer. Start a legal defense fund with the first dollar your code makes.

On the EULA point, I read these too. I've never been a Hotmail user, but I would be extremely surprised if the license actually assigned copyrights in material transmitted. I expect you've misread this and the relevant clauses permit them to read the material, to check for viruses, gather marketing information, etc. Normally EULAs for services like Linked In provide for a Use licence grant so that the service can store user generated material, and transmit it to Web users, etc. It's a necessary protection for them, but it doesn't diminish your rights to own, sell or otherwise deal in the same material; you retain the copyright.

There are more egregious examples of Big Web exploiting orphaned works and ripping off content makers (e.g. YouTube's policy on automated infringement detection being conditional on agreeing to licence works).

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon