4 Dec
2003
4 Dec
'03
9:56 p.m.
On Thu, 4 Dec 2003, Anahata wrote:
I think this is an interesting one. The xiph.org guys probably know a lot
about this since all the ogg stuff is licenced as "patent-free
multimedia". By saying that they probably have a legal course of action if
someone takes all the vorbis code and trys to patent the "new mp5
enhanced audio codec", or something like that. I know ogg stuff has a BSD
licence.
And that's what's really interesting. He is giving props to the
developers, just not very obviously. If he has set up a legit business in
whatever country he resides in, he must be aware of the licencing issues
to make it worth his time.
It will be interesting to see the tech support questions he gets when his
re-branded apps don't meet some user's expectations. This reminds me of a
friend's mother who clicked on one of those "speed up your internet!
click here" ad banners and for her money, recieved a web site that
compares prices of things to buy, all on one web page -- thus speeding up
her internet by giving information from many places in one place, so she
has to spend less time shopping! Brilliant scam.
-lee
but what's
more problematic is how he tries to
re-brand
One legal nightmare I can envisage is trademarking his name for the
product. I'm not sure if the GPL says anything about that...
If Luxuriousity Office gets a name for itself, Open Office
might be perceived as a derivative "clone". (Actually it says "Open
Office" all over his web site at the moment) or attempts to make it look like his company has
written the
software
Doesn't seem so from the web site:
" Today, programmers from around the world collaborate on the project
and it has made this program one of the most popular audio editing
programs in history."
" Luxuriousity is pleased to be a community distributor for this program
and can offer it to you for a price that barely covers the manufacturing
costs and the limited support. The team of developers currently working
on this program have asked Luxuriousity to have our customers pass on
their ideas on how this program can be enhanced"...
They may or may not have done that, of course...