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On Sat, Dec 21, 2013 at 9:47 PM, Rich Freeman <rich0@g.o> wrote: |
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> On Sat, Dec 21, 2013 at 5:23 PM, Roy Bamford <neddyseagoon@g.o> wrote: |
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>> That is not a statement on behalf of the Gentoo Foundation Inc. at all. |
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>> Its my personal opinion as a non US citizen, not normally subject to |
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>> the jurisdiction of the US courts. |
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>> Its also an acknowledgement that the US courts can be and are ignored, |
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>> even in Europe. e.g. enforcing software patents. |
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>> |
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>> I believe our IP is well protected in the USA, is protected in places |
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>> the USA has treaties with but is not protected at all in regions where |
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>> the USA has little or no influence. e.g. Cuba. Cuba seems to be doing |
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>> quite nicely ... they even have their own Gentoo based distro. |
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> |
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> So, if Bill Gates stated, purely as a private citizen, that Microsoft |
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> probably didn't have grounds to sue Google over some software patent, |
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> do you think that this wouldn't be likely to be introduced as evidence |
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> in a court all the same? Would it influence a jury? |
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Rich, I understand what you're saying here and how Roy, even though is |
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not a US citizen, by being the President of the Foundation needs to be |
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careful about legal requirements / obligations may be imposed on him |
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for being a Trustee and the President of the Foundation. |
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However, as a fellow Foundation member and European developer, I share |
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Roy's opinion and feel it's appropriate to recall that even though we |
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may be members of the Foundation, we may not acknowledge the views of |
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the US legal system about what rights it holds outside of the US and |
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in our own countries or EU. |
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In my own case, I've long held some reservations about some of the |
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claims of the Foundation and have thought that there are valid reasons |
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to have a Gentoo European Foundation. One recent issue where I believe |
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we would be better served by a EU organization is the whole debate |
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about having developers from countries that aren't "liked" by US. |
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Regards, |
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Jorge Manuel B. S. Vicetto |
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Gentoo (European) Developer |
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