Chard Broek

Phate Shepherd wrote: IP rights frustrate the crap out of me. Not because I don't want to follow them, but because the licenses are so often written in a way that they are either vague, or I don't grasp them. I deal with IP rights issues professionally, daily, and when I do I'm putting myself and my own company at risk. I'm not a lawyer, but I do retain a good one, and I'm experienced. I feel your pain, but maybe I can make it clearer. IP rights issues are vague. Whatever you do, you are at risk. The law is not precise, and is it not like code. In the end, you must make a judgement about whether you are likely to be sued or prosecuted, and what the damage will be if you are. This is true even when you believe you are doing all the right things both morally and legally. When you read a license agreement you are not just trying to interpret it literally, but also trying to understand how a court would interpret it in the case of prosecution. Many things in license agreements are in fact unenforceable nullities. You have to pay a lawyer to find out, and even then he is only giving his professional opinion — a prediction of what a court would decide. A good lawyer will tell you how sure he is. A lot of apparent legal documents written by SL residents are total nonsense. People have seen software license agreements or other licenses and think they can write whatever they like. However you still can't ignore such documents. A court will try to understand the intention of them, within what is legally allowed. So you must do the same. In the end: assess your risk, make your decision, be sensible, behave well, and listen to LL's guidance ahead of that of random residents (me included!)