[ros-dev] Reset, Reboot, Restart, legal issues and the long road to 0.3

[Robert Shearman]

Steven Edwards wrote:

>4) any developer that had access to leaked sources is baned from
>contributing code to the project for any of the modules that are the
>same as leaked sources they examined.
>
>So to clarify that, lets say someone saw some of the leaked Windows
>source code in version.dll, then they would be unable to contribute
>code to the ReactOS project for that dll.
>  
>

I don't think this clause is strong enough. I think that any developer 
that saw the leaked source code should be banned from contributing to 
ReactOS. Since there is no record of which parts of the Windows source 
code that these people saw, if any part of ReactOS they contributed is 
coincidentally similar to the Windows source then it could be deemed a 
copyright violation.

If any legal advice the project receives says there is no problem in 
these four cases then this argument becomes less rigid. However, in the 
very least, I would still advocate adding a clause to say that, in the 
future, if anyone was found or admits to have Windows source code in 
their possession then they should be banned from committing.

You can walk very close to the line, but the damages from a potential 
Microsoft lawsuit are so great that it would seem sensible to not go 
anywhere near the line.

-- 
Rob Shearman