[ros-dev] Reset, Reboot, Restart, legal issues and the long road to 0.3

[Reuben Perelman]

Robert Shearman wrote:

> Steven Edwards wrote:
>
>> 4) any developer that had access to leaked sources is baned from
>> contributing code to the project for any of the modules that are the
>> same as leaked sources they examined.
>>
>> So to clarify that, lets say someone saw some of the leaked Windows
>> source code in version.dll, then they would be unable to contribute
>> code to the ReactOS project for that dll.
>>  
>>
>
> I don't think this clause is strong enough. I think that any developer 
> that saw the leaked source code should be banned from contributing to 
> ReactOS. Since there is no record of which parts of the Windows source 
> code that these people saw, if any part of ReactOS they contributed is 
> coincidentally similar to the Windows source then it could be deemed a 
> copyright violation.
>
> If any legal advice the project receives says there is no problem in 
> these four cases then this argument becomes less rigid. However, in 
> the very least, I would still advocate adding a clause to say that, in 
> the future, if anyone was found or admits to have Windows source code 
> in their possession then they should be banned from committing.
>
> You can walk very close to the line, but the damages from a potential 
> Microsoft lawsuit are so great that it would seem sensible to not go 
> anywhere near the line.
>
Just fighting a lawsuit might be more than the ReactOS project can handle.