GPL compliance suit against VMware dismissed [LWN.net]

GPL compliance suit against VMware dismissed

Posted Aug 19, 2016 19:58 UTC (Fri) by Felix (subscriber, #36445)
Parent article: GPL compliance suit against VMware dismissed

> The money expended by VMware could become a real issue if the appeal is not successful, as the court awarded VMware its costs when dismissing the case. That number is sure to be quite large at this point and will only grow through the appeals process.

I'm not 100% sure but I think this does not mean the looser will have to pay VMware's *actual* costs. AFAIK the looser has to pay costs as calculated according to the RVG ("Rechtsanwaltsvergütungsgesetz"). A major factor in that calculation is the "Streitwert" (amount in dispute). However the law assumes that a single lawyer is sufficient for each party (so the cost is basically capped at a sensible amount even if VMware pays a few million for their lawyers).

(Again: I'm not a lawyer and thankfully I did not have to deal with courts in copyright matters so far so I may be off.)

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GPL compliance suit against VMware dismissed

Posted Aug 20, 2016 13:03 UTC (Sat) by chirlu (guest, #89906) [Link]

It's capped, yes; the winning party can only claim those costs that were “necessary”, not inflate the amount at will. Still, the costs can quickly get quite high (by the standards of a private individual or a small non-profit organization); in addition to the lawyers’ and the court’s fees, there are travel expenses, payment for the expert witness(es) who will be needed, etc. It is also safe to assume the case will proceed to the Federal Court of Justice in the end, and each of the three levels will of course add to the total cost.