[OSM-talk] Google Street View copyright question

[John Smith]

2009/9/10 Roy Wallace <waldo000000 at gmail.com>:

> But being able to say "but lawyer X said we could!" in court will not
> make you immune to lawsuits. Nonetheless, legal advice from a lawyer
> would be great - John, any ideas on how to get this?

It doesn't make you immune, but if you follow the legal advice it
reduces the damages, in the case of OSM it would be very conservative
opinions to try and prevent things from going to court, but still it
would be the advice of a lawyer rather than the advice of what someone
thinks the law might be.

It would need to come from a lawyer in the UK or very very familiar
with UK law, I don't know of any lawyers that would fit this criteria.

> In any case, I agree with Anthony - the only way to *guarantee*
> company X won't take you to court for doing Z - regardless of who
> might win in court - is if company X gives you written permission to
> do Z.

The problem with that logic is they could still take you to court for
the purposes of bankrupting you. Even if you are likely to win it will
still take considerable legal resources to do so, and big companies
use this as a tactic to kill off competition.

> As Dave asked, "Has anyone sent a letter to Google's legal department
> asking for clarification or permission?" Google, at least on
> face-value, seem to be open-minded when it comes to open-source stuff,

Only so far as it is of benefit to them.