GPL to be tested, EFF bootcamp

  • First U.S. GPL lawsuit filed: The makers of GPL licensed software BusyBox are suing Monsoon media for using the software without redistributing the underlying source code. This could be a case to watch–especially since “BusyBox” already makes a potentially neat case name.
  • 9 ways for a Web 2.0 company to commit legal suicide, in preview of EFF Bootcamp: It’ almost too easy to throw some code together and generate a little venture capital; or at least easy enough where important legal issues are evidently frequently overlooked (the article quotes the EFF’s Fred von Lohmann, “Half the companies you blog about have copyright or privacy legal issues simmering just under the surface. Since most of them are thinly capitalized, when they get into trouble, they’re likely to call EFF for legal advice. Several already have.”). Perhaps this is another case of how easy it is to overlook unknown or “obscure” laws?