[LUAU] a different open source issue, from Maui

[Jim Thompson]

http://www.drunkenblog.com/drunkenblog-archives/000501.html

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Recently I had some very, very disturbing news passed onto me regarding 
what's going on with the product known as CherryOS.

There's been a lot of buzz about Cherry OS lately -- since they started 
actually selling their product -- but there are some real pits in 
Cherry OS, and the people behind it (MXS), that aren't getting enough 
attention.

This isn't about nitpicking marketing claims, we're going to be 
breaking down some really uncool stuff involving taking GPL-based code 
from PearPC (among other projects) and completely false performance 
claims being used to get people to hand over their cash.

[...]

If you're curious as to why Maui X-Stream, Inc. isn't being forced to 
stop what they're doing, this is where things get a little tricky.

To my knowledge, the GPL has never been seriously tested in an American 
court -- at least partially because it's considered to be legally 
solid. It's certainly doubtful that IBM would be pushing it so heavily 
with their own intellectual property if it was full of holes. It isn't 
that open sourced code isn't misappropriated -- it is -- but usually 
not by large companies (unless they're insane), and with smaller 
companies there are some logistical nightmares involved.

A big stumbling block is that a bunch of guys contributing code in 
their spare time after work generally don't have the money necessary to 
launch a civil suit against a company to get an injunction, let alone 
one in another state, let alone one in another state that's a Pacific 
away. It gets worse when you realize not everyone is necessarily even 
in the United States.

Remember, these interstate civil intellectual property suits are pretty 
much the purview of corporations, not individuals. Unless someone else 
is able to step in and file suit on their behalf, or they are able to 
raise enough awareness that the company isn't able to continue doing 
what they're doing, their options are limited.