Re: Licenses and revocability, in a paragraph or less.

From: freedomfromruin
Date: Fri Sep 28 2018 - 21:00:49 EST


It is imperative that the people know their rights so that they are not taken advantage of by moneyed interests.

For those who are dispossessed there are remedies at law and in equity.

Here we have a situation where moneyed interests have found a social exploit to leverage into ascendancy, while
those who created the edifice which they have willed to conquer are shut out.

On 2018-09-28 03:56, Eric S. Raymond wrote:
freedomfromruin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <freedomfromruin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:
As has been stated in easily accessible terms elsewhere:
"Most courts hold that simple, non-exclusive licenses with unspecified
durations that are silent on revocability are revocable at will. This means
that the licensor may terminate the license at any time, with or without
cause." +

Furthermore, license revocation is not the only option. In Jacobsen
vs. Katzer (535 F.3d 1373 (Fed. Cir. 2008) it was found that
open-source developers have an actionable right not to have their
software misappropriated even though the resulting damages are only
reputational rather than monetary.

Under that theory, developers can seek an injunction against a
misappropriating party without globally revoking their license.
The application of that case law to this situation is left as
an easy exercise for the reader. Any competent paralegal could
write the brief in an evening. Hell, I could almost do it myself.

I do not personally want to see this happen. But that it is possible
is a fact all parties must deal with.