Re: Rubywanker is a thief to be removed from usenet. Now.

[!smentzer@ecom.net (Steve Mentzer)]

>
>   Once again, Mr pirate, it is NOT the responsibility of the
>copyright holder to go trolling for possible violations. It is the
>responsibility of users to behave themselves. That is what you are
>unwilling to do, that is why you lie like a politician in trying to
>make your blatantly WRONG position seem right. 
>


Hey Nathan,

I spoke with one of my lawyer buddies who happens to specialize in 
commercial civil litigation, and he basically told me the following:

(paraphrasing what he told me)

o If a copyright holder knowingly allows the widget to be distributed and/or 
sold without the holder's consent, then the holder assumes all *financial* 
hardship for the loss of potential sales and/or distribution. The illegal 
activity is still subject to criminal prosecution, but the copyright holder may 
be negating it's rights to retrieve compensatory loss.

In other words nathan, if company XYZ knows that JoeSixpack is distributing 
it's software illegally over the internet, and company XYZ doesn't do a damn 
thing about it, then company XYZ cannot claim loss of revenue for the illegal 
distribution of it's software. However, company XYZ *can* direct law 
enforcement to begin criminal proceedings against the person distributing the 
software, because copyright law has been violated.

smentzer@ecom.net