[OSM-legal-talk] ODbL Enforcement (Re: OBbL and forks)

[James Livingston]

On 12/12/2009, at 9:15 PM, Rob Myers wrote:
> Rather than naming and shaming, the FSF and the SFLC always work quietly
> to get compliance from people who break the GPL. They don't call them
> out in public or drag their asses to court to make an example of them.
> Legal action and the publicity that brings is a last resort. I think
> that's a better balance.

I definitely agree - most GPL violations are done by someone who accidentally did so, because they didn't understand it properly. Quietly talking to them with the presumption of accidental violation is definitely what we'd want to do.

However there might come a time where someone is wilfully violating it, and talking to them doesn't help. I wasn't trying to start a debate about what we would do, with lawyers costing money and all, but what we could do about it.


I was trying to find out whether my logic for the only real option being the Licensor suing for breach contract was correct, whether OSMF could claim to be the licensor if I got it via a third party. Oh, and jurisdictions would be fun with the lack of proper-law (choice of law) clause, for a contract which could span countries. Especially if the site you downloaded it from sent you to different servers based on geo-IP mapping or something