Robert Shearman wrote:
Steven Edwards wrote:
- 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.