[Foundation-l] Litigation costs

[Ray Saintonge]

Mike Godwin wrote:
> Thomas Dalton writes:
>   
>> Would defending one case reduce costs of future cases by virtue of
>> establishing a precedent, or will it still cost enormous amounts even
>> if with a precedent?
>>     
> It depends on far too many factors to list here.
>   
I think it would reduce the probability of such a case.  Still, all it 
takes is one crusader determined in his belief that he can distinguish 
his case from ours to overturn the applecart.
> Anthony write
>> Besides the obvious argument that a free
>> encyclopedia should contain free content, I think such mixing of free
>> and non-free content goes against the spirit if not the letter of the
>> GFDL.  But I'm also for being honest about the reasons that content is
>> removed.
>>     
> I think this is an important consideration. We want the content we  
> make available to be maximally unencumbered (with that lack of  
> encumbrance enforced by the GFDL or similar license).  "Fair use"  
> content doesn't meet that criterion.
>
> Please understand that I am resolutely in favor of fair use, of fair  
> use/fair dealing doctrines, and even of occasional use of such content  
> on our projects.  But we can't pretend that the issues regarding  
> protecting the Foundation and its projects and the communities we  
> serve are the same as straight-up issues about copyright and fair  
> use.  There's some overlap, sure, but the issues raised are different,  
> depending on context.
>   
"Maximally unencumbered" makes sense but it does not provide an ironclad 
guarantee to the reuser.  The reuser must accept his share of 
responsibility for what he uses; we cannot absove him of his duty of due 
diligence on a wide range of issues of which copyright is only one.

I have no problem with seriously limiting fair use, but much of what is 
labeled "fair use" often fails the minimal criteria for fair use.  They 
completely ignore other possible defences.
> As any copyright lawyer will tell you, context is pretty much  
> everything in copyright law.
We have absolutely no control over the reuser's context.

Ec