[wplug] Anyone know a good lawyer?

[Dave Neuer]

--- Bill Moran <wmoran at potentialtech.com> wrote:
> 
> We've been threatened with a lawsuit.
> 
> Can anyone recommend a lawyer who would be willing
> to do some pro-bono work?
> The subject of the potential lawsuit is software
> released under the GPL.
> At this point, I only need an hour or so of legal
> consulting to determine
> whether or not there is a valid claim here, or if
> this is an empty threat.

To get valuable advice about this (which you won't get
from me, I know no lawyers), you probably need to
provide more info, e.g.:

1) is this a a) copyright claim, or b) patent claim
(or c) trademark claim);
2) who released the software under the GPL (are you
being accused of violating the GPL in your proprietary
software, or did you release a GPL application and are
being accused of copying proprietary code);

My general sense is that if you're facing a patent
claim, unless you feel very, very confident that you
have prior art you can point to, you need to retain an
attorney, and my understanding of the expense of
hiring patent attorneys is that it is very expensive;

My second general sense is that getting any kind of IP
lawyer to represent you pro bono will require you to
have some special circumstance (e.g. you're a
non-profit -- or you're a poor startup whose
technology will one day cure cancer), probably
directly proportional to the amount of work they will
need to do to represent you;

My last general sense is that if 1a above, and you're
being accused of including proprietary code in a GPL
product you may get a lawyer to help you draft a "shut
up" letter depending on how clear it is that you even
had access to the code, whether there's any direct
evidence of copying (which presumably should be pretty
easy to determine if the plaintiff has access to your
code and their code), etc.

If you are being accused of violating the GPL, you're
probably going to have to pay a lawyer, or find one
who thinks that free software advocates are a bunch of
commies and that Satan wrote the GPL.

Lastly, my very specific sense is that you really need
to consult a lawyer who specializes in IP issues, and
most lawyers generally will probably provide a
one-hour consultation for free, particularly if it
looks like you're about to need their very expensive
services.

Dave