Hi,
On 1/26/06, Robert Shearman rob@codeweavers.com wrote:
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.
But using that logic anyone that had ever seen AT&T Unix code would be unable to write GNU and or Linux code. I don't buy that its a copyright violation. Trade Secret maybe but copyright would be like the header situation, as long as they are not directly coping how could it be a derived work?
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.
I agree that anyone that currently HAS the source code for the leak should be banned. Maybe I was not clear enough on that. My issue I have a hard time telling some 15 year old kid who found the Windows source code on a P2P network that he is screwed forever and cannot write free software even if he deletes it. The legal council I spoke with in effect suggested doing the rewrite and banning someone who had seen the code but I do not agree with the idea that someone who makes a mistake should be banned for life.
-- Steven Edwards - ReactOS and Wine developer
"There is one thing stronger than all the armies in the world, and that is an idea whose time has come." - Victor Hugo