[Foundation-l] Litigation costs

[Mike Godwin]

Robert Rohde writes:

>>  Don't mistake me for a wild idealist.  I recognize there do need  
>> to be
> practical considerations, but if we are really planning for a $4M  
> budget,
> then setting aside say $200k (5%) to defend cases where we believe  
> that we
> are in the right seems like a more than reasonable starting point (in
> addition to money set aside to address other legal issues).

A single copyright case could easily exceed that amount to defend.

Yes, of course the Foundation has defenses under DMCA. But those who  
use our content may not. Are you proposing that we allocate $200K to  
defend those who use project content because we told them it was okay  
to do so per fair use doctrine?

>  Not to mention
> that I continue to believe that a legal defense of Wikipedia would  
> be a very
> effective rallying point to draw additional funds and the support of  
> like
> minded organizations (e.g. EFF, etc.)

Having spent nine years at like-minded EFF, I'll point out that EFF  
raises money for its own operations, mainly, and is unlikely to raise  
money for us.  EFF also very carefully picks its cases -- it does not  
defend or pursue every winnable case (I wish!).  That's because EFF  
recognizes that it needs to work within a budget and maximize results  
from its expenditures.


--Mike