[thrownaway954]

i agree with you... now show them your support by sending them a blank check for their legal fees. oh... i'm sorry... did i offend HN, strike a nerve and become a troll?

no i did not. i am demonstrating that most people on this site haven't the slightest clue what they are talking about.

it costs money and time to fight something and companies have something called a risk management department that decides whether it is worth the risk to fight or comply.

github knows that getting into a heated legal battle is going to cost alot, especially going up against the deep pockets of the RIAA. not saying that github and microsoft don't have deep pockets, but that this _will_ become an expensive battle to fight and defending a grey area open source project isn't worth the time nor the money.

[dotancohen]

Is Microsoft a stranger to long, expensive legal battles? They've taken that risk before when it suited pushing their monopoly.

[raxxorrax]

And since Microsoft is a RIAA member...

[thrownaway954]

"defending a grey area open source project isn't worth the time nor the money."

need i say more?

[goatinaboat]

it costs money and time to fight something and companies have something called a risk management department that decides whether it is worth the risk to fight or comply

Genuine question: why? The police won't get involved in a civil matter, only a criminal one. So what happens if you just ignore the other side's lawyers?

[bigwavedave]

> So what happens if you just ignore the other side's lawyers?

IAN[even_close_to_being]AL but I'm fairly sure this would result in a default judgment. At least it does in civil cases between citizens (in the US) and corporations- when a company files with the court clerk, a complaint ("you've been served" kind of thing) is issued to the defendant and they typically have 21 days to respond by filing their own motion with the clerk. If they ignore this or never actually receive this, a hearing is scheduled where a court date is decided, which the court will attempt to communicate to the defendant if they didn't show up to the hearing. The court date will come and go, and if the defendant is still ignoring the situation, the judge assumes there's no contest and will issue a default judgment against the defendant. In the case of corporations vs citizens, this is when damages/fines are accessed and wage garnishment notices get issued. Garnishments (and the corporate equivalent of fines) are no joke- corporate accountants take them extremely seriously because of the penalties for failing to carry them out: if they don't, the company's assets can get seized, accounts can get raided (depending on the type of case [medical and taxes are two large categories] and the plaintiff), and fines get levied and even increase. I imagine it's the same way with default judgments against corporations, but again, I'm no lawyer- just a guy musing about corporate civil suits based on citizen civil suits.

[_underfl0w_]

Couldn't those ignored lawyers invoke the power of the court somehow? E.g. a subpoena or similar? IA(clearly)NAL.

[thrownaway954]

cause lawyers cost money