[wplug] Anyone know a good lawyer?

[Bill Moran]

Thanks for the response.

I know the original email was devoid of details, and that was intentional,
as the party has not yet filed a lawsuit, and hasn't even formally threatened
to do so.  They kind of pointed out that they might be considering threatening
to file a suit.

I'm trying to be pre-emptive, so if they do happen to do anything, I know
where I stand, legally, before they actually start doing it.

However, after doing a little bit of my own legal research, I don't feel
they have enough of anything for it to be worth it to them to file.  I
kinda get the feeling that it was one employee trying to make a
name for himself, and that their legal department won't even bother to
consider his request that they do something about it.  However, I still
intend to contact a lawyer, because I need to have a lawyer I can contact
for business purposes anyway.

Overall, I'm glad I didn't mention details about the company involved, as
I don't think it was the company doing this, but just one employee who
should never have made such a threat of a threat anyway.  Time will tell,
though.  And I appreciate your response.

Dave Neuer <mr_fred_smoothie at yahoo.com> wrote:
> --- 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
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-- 
Bill Moran
Potential Technologies
http://www.potentialtech.com