is this in character?

Posted Oct 14, 2024 21:10 UTC (Mon) by Wol (subscriber, #4433)
In reply to: is this in character? by roc
Parent article: WordPress retaliation impacts community

From what I've seen, it sounds like it's in character. It also sounds (from this dhh post) that Mullenweg actually doesn't understand trademark law (and probably IP law generally).

That statement about use of the Rails trademarks pretty much states the LAW's stance on the matter, not dhh's. For Mullenweg to slag dhh off for merely re-stating the law doesn't give you much confidence in Mullenweg's grasp of reality ...

Cheers,
Wol

is this in character?

Posted Oct 15, 2024 11:41 UTC (Tue) by Heretic_Blacksheep (guest, #169992) [Link]

Two things to remember when it comes to the law: neither side knows how any given court and/or jury is going to decide any specific case (at least in the US), and in this case neither one is a lawyer. DHH can call on examples all he wants, but in the end he's not qualified to give a legal opinion so take his assertions as you would any layman's. Being an 'expert' on open source doesn't mean he's qualified to make an 'expert' opinion on the _law_ even as it applies to open source. Especially not internationally. The only thing he can do is point out similar cases, if any, then let others draw their own opinions from that. Keep in mind that even if a case appears similar, it may diverge in what may appear insignificant ways to a layman, but important to qualified lawyers.

I skimmed DHH's opinion, and it seems reasoned and sane. But don't forget he's a layman, not a lawyer.