Peter Murray wrote:
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> On Sep 29, 2008, at 11:03 AM, Tim Spalding wrote:
>> I'm guessing that GMU-paid people wrote the code in question―they have
>> quite a team now. But it would an interesting legal question if
>> outside people had done it as part of the Open Source process and GMU
>> had merely agreed to include the code.
>
>
> Yeah -- I had the same thought. But the code was checked in by Simon
> Kornblith, one of the lead developers hired for Zotero development by
> GMU/CHNM (http://simonster.com/resume.thtml).
>

This will be interesting to see how it works out. From what I read, it
looks like the case that Thomson has is based on, or at least strongly
enhanced by, the EULA. Thus, the legal questions may end up being 1) is
"freeing" data from a proprietary file format aviolation of
copyright/patent/ etc.? and if not, 2) can you sign that away by
agreeing to an EULA?

My guess is that #1 is going to be a tough argument for Thomson to make
in court. I wonder if there has been any cases about this for other file
formats? Scenario #2 might be easier for Thomson to convince a judge of.
If so, that means someone else, who didn't sign an EULA can make a
Zotero plug in to deal with the .ens files and the community can move
ahead. I really hope that if this finds its way to a court (or if an
agreement between GMU and Thompson is reached) that the finding allows
for the right to convert the data is not restricted automatically (i.e.
#1 is allowed. providing an EULA doesn't restrict it).

Edward

>
> Peter
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> Assistant Director, New Service Development tel:+1-614-728-3600;ext=338
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