[pc86]

Especially the brazenness with which the author basically says "if they want to sue me for this verified and admitted IP theft, they can."

Sure, they probably won't. But they might. And if they do, you'll lose immediately. Seems like a pretty high risk no reward scenario.

[sokoloff]

And if you lose immediately, you likely owe damages. Those damages, even if trebled, appear to be $0 here.

[akozak]

Pretty sure that's not how copyright damages work. Don't take legal advice on HN folks.

[concordDance]

What makes you think that's not how it works?

[akozak]

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/504

[concordDance]

You could have said "There's statutory damages in of $750 or higher" in addition to providing the link.

Thanks anyway.

[pc86]

Which would be a great solace to someone who just spent $10k or more like 2-3x that responding to a lawsuit. But that's also why I agree the odds of actually getting sued are near-zero.

[Alupis]

Some companies, armed with floors of attorneys and retained outside counsel, do that sort of thing just for the message alone. It costs them next to nothing, relatively, ruins the defendant regardless of outcome, and makes it clear for others to not mess around with IP.

[Aeolun]

Why would you spend any money on a suit you intend to lose?

[IshKebab]

Because you intend to lose it with 0 damages.

[m00x]

I'm sure they could find damages amounting to a large enough amount that OP would regret.

[kopecs]

Except there are statutory damages for copyright infringement.

[concordDance]

Not all rewards are monetary, in this case the reward is thinking his tool might be used by others at some point.