But to be honest, the apology and climb down were pretty decent too. All too often these things are dragged out and fought tooth and nail, to nobody's benefit but the lawyers.
Which is to say, the astrology people seem to be pretty decent folks about it, not SCO-type bipedal hagfish in 3-piece suits, or Rightshaven-style copyright sharks with a business model based on IP lawsuits.
If I knew anyone who were into astrology-type things, I think I might order them something from Astrolabe, as a small reward for the good behavior in dropping the suit.
Ignoring for a moment the question of whether IP is valid as a concept: if they were misinformed that they had a case, and that their IP had been widely misappropriated without compensation, they probably thought they were in the right. And I'm not sure I can fault them for doing so, given the advice they were likely given.
Whoever gave them the bad legal advice might have led them to believe they were on to a legal jackpot. It doesn't seem to be a big, money-spinning operation, so the case might have offered the possibility of a more comfortable old age for these people.
A little extra business from appreciative tech types would help lessen the sting.
> Which is to say, the astrology people seem to be pretty decent folks about it, not SCO-type bipedal hagfish in 3-piece suits, or Rightshaven-style copyright sharks with a business model based on IP lawsuits.
> If I knew anyone who were into astrology-type things, I think I might order them something from Astrolabe, as a small reward for the good behavior in dropping the suit.
Regardless of stepping down, it was an obviously frivolous suit in the first place. Backing down from BS threats isn't something that should be commended, not ever making them in the first place should be. Who would ever think that time zones are copyrightable and have the cojones to sue over it? An absurd and a waste of everyone's time.
Update: I just read the complaint and their attorney uses her Gmail address for official business. What a joke. Go figure that an astrology company has a fly by night attorney filing obviously BS lawsuits.
They're a bunch of aging hippies, they probably didn't know any better. Hell, they don't know any better than to believe in astrology.
Many techies are steeped in IP rights issues, these people likely are not.
But my main point is that lots of long, drawn-out, expensive legal battles are started by someone who "shouldn't have done it in the first place". Society would be a lot better off if people would back down quickly and gracefully, as these people did.
https://supporters.eff.org/join, https://supporters.eff.org/donate or https://supporters.eff.org/shop