Ask HN: A company used my source code for their product. What can I do? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: A company used my source code for their product. What can I do?

#21

Post by craftyguy » Fri, Oct 12, 2018, 2:42 PM UTC

knewter wrote: post #20

craftyguy wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That doesn't excuse not picking a license for it. explicit > implicit...

the fault is with the person who used unlicensed code. OP did nothing wrong if he wasn't explicitly choosing to permissively license it. sounds from his reaction that he wasn't. that's ok.

Sure, but if you leave your house door wide open, it's still not your fault if someone comes right in and takes stuff, but you certainly make it easier for them to do so. Picking a license is easier than trying to defend an unlicensed work in court..

Re: Ask HN: A company used my source code for their product. What can I do?

#22

Post by weliketocode » Fri, Oct 12, 2018, 2:44 PM UTC

Agreed with everyone who's saying reach out to the company and/or lawyers.

I hate to sling negativity on the internet, but you posted code online and are upset that someone is making money off of it.

Again, I could be way off base, but you come across in a similar fashion as a patent troll looking for a payday.

Re: Ask HN: A company used my source code for their product. What can I do?

#23

Post by boomlinde » Fri, Oct 12, 2018, 3:12 PM UTC

craftyguy wrote: post #21

knewter wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the fault is with the person who used unlicensed code. OP did nothing wrong if he wasn't explicitly choosing to permissively license it. sounds from his reaction that he wasn't. that's ok.

Sure, but if you leave your house door wide open, it's still not your fault if someone comes right in and takes stuff, but you certainly make it easier for them to do so. Picking a license is easier than trying to defend an unlicensed work in court..

> Picking a license is easier than trying to defend an unlicensed work in court..

Are you speaking from experience here? Whether it has a blanket license or not has absolutely nothing to do with its status as a copyright protected work.

Quite to the opposite, having a blanket license should make it harder to determine whether its use constitutes an infringement on the copyright or is permissible by the license.

There are plenty of reasons not to give your work a blanket license. For one, you might want to share an idea without necessarily giving anyone access to use your work directly, or you may want to present the work publicly for exposure so that interested parties can license it individually.

Re: Ask HN: A company used my source code for their product. What can I do?

#24

Post by craftyguy » Fri, Oct 12, 2018, 3:33 PM UTC

boomlinde wrote: post #23

craftyguy wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, but if you leave your house door wide open, it's still not your fault if someone comes right in and takes stuff, but you certainly make it easier for them to do so. Picking a license is easier than trying to defend an unlicensed work in court..

> Picking a license is easier than trying to defend an unlicensed work in court.. Are you speaking from experience here? Whether it has a blanket license or not has absolutely nothing to do with its status as a copyright protected work. Quite to the opposite, having a blanket license should make it harder to determine whether its use constitutes an infringement on the copyright or is permissible by the license. There…

> For one, you might want to share an idea without necessarily giving anyone access to use your work directly, or you may want to present the work publicly for exposure so that interested parties can license it individually.

> Whether it has a blanket license or not has absolutely nothing to do with its status as a copyright protected work.

I never said it did. My point is, you are not helping anyone by not explicitly licensing things. You might know what rights exist if no license is specified, but not everyone does. I've seen terrible advisers and lawyers say 'well, there is no license and the source is there, so it is "open source" and fair game'. having an explicit license of rights would help to discourage all but the really dense folks from abusing it.

Re: Ask HN: A company used my source code for their product. What can I do?

#25

Post by undefined_user4 » Fri, Oct 12, 2018, 5:57 PM UTC

matt_the_bass wrote: post #19

undefined_user4 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By free I'm guessing you mean funded by tax payers?

Yes. Funded by state taxes. It is an effort to reduce brain drain, attract higher wage business and diversify the economy. From my datapoint of 1, it seems to be working. My brother in-laws wife is a nurse. WY is in desperate need of nurses and she found a well paying job there. Had my brother in law not gone to law school there she would have never looked for a job there and they wouldn’t have been able to fill that…

Theft is theft.

Re: Ask HN: A company used my source code for their product. What can I do?

#26

Post by matt_the_bass » Fri, Oct 12, 2018, 6:11 PM UTC

undefined_user4 wrote: post #25

matt_the_bass wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. Funded by state taxes. It is an effort to reduce brain drain, attract higher wage business and diversify the economy. From my datapoint of 1, it seems to be working. My brother in-laws wife is a nurse. WY is in desperate need of nurses and she found a well paying job there. Had my brother in law not gone to law school there she would have never looked for a job there and they wouldn’t have been able to fill that…

Theft is theft.

Could you please clarify your comment?

Re: Ask HN: A company used my source code for their product. What can I do?

#27

Post by undefined_user4 » Fri, Oct 12, 2018, 6:19 PM UTC

matt_the_bass wrote: post #26

undefined_user4 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Theft is theft.

Could you please clarify your comment?

Taxes are a form of theft. You vote for politicians who implement laws to use force to take money from people and then waste it on unnecessary crap like brainwashing facilities also known as schools where children are indoctrinated into believing that socialism is somehow a just cause. It's no different from a mafia.

Whether or not it reduces brain drain or whatever is irrelevant. At the end of the day, it's still theft.

Re: Ask HN: A company used my source code for their product. What can I do?

#28

Post by zeroego » Fri, Oct 12, 2018, 6:54 PM UTC

matt_the_bass wrote: post #12

anoncoward111 wrote: post #2

I believe you would need to threaten to sue, or sue. That costs time, money, and/or a lawyer's time, which costs a lot of money. Additionally, you might not win. Shitty/unethical companies do this a lot. They find clients and they pay engineers to make everything work ASAP. Your code was a convenient way to fix everything with plausible deniability. I'm sorry for this, and I hope you do win if you sue! If you were in…

> Sadly, I can't obtain a law license without first paying $140,000 in mandatory tuition If you’re willing to live in Wyoming during law school, U of W offers free law school to anyone that gets accepted even those from out of state. The campus is super cute in a small town. If that is your thing, it’s a good deal. My brother in law took this route and he LOVED it. He moved from the east coast and plans to stay. He e…

Do you by any chance have a link to back that up? I went to U of W's website and they did not mention anything about free tuition.

Re: Ask HN: A company used my source code for their product. What can I do?

#29

Post by charlesdm » Fri, Oct 12, 2018, 7:21 PM UTC

undefined_user4 wrote: post #27

matt_the_bass wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could you please clarify your comment?

Taxes are a form of theft. You vote for politicians who implement laws to use force to take money from people and then waste it on unnecessary crap like brainwashing facilities also known as schools where children are indoctrinated into believing that socialism is somehow a just cause. It's no different from a mafia. Whether or not it reduces brain drain or whatever is irrelevant. At the end of the day, it's still th…

Taxes are a form of solidarity. Now, I might agree some tax rates are significantly too high and those could be seen as theft (because you do not agree what they are spent on), but a reasonable amount of taxes need to be paid to cover the basic infrastructure of a country.

I'm sure many people in developing countries wouldn't mind paying more than 5 or 10% taxes if it meant they actually got something back for their money.

Re: Ask HN: A company used my source code for their product. What can I do?

#30

Post by undefined_user4 » Fri, Oct 12, 2018, 7:49 PM UTC

charlesdm wrote: post #29

undefined_user4 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Taxes are a form of theft. You vote for politicians who implement laws to use force to take money from people and then waste it on unnecessary crap like brainwashing facilities also known as schools where children are indoctrinated into believing that socialism is somehow a just cause. It's no different from a mafia. Whether or not it reduces brain drain or whatever is irrelevant. At the end of the day, it's still th…

Taxes are a form of solidarity. Now, I might agree some tax rates are significantly too high and those could be seen as theft (because you do not agree what they are spent on), but a reasonable amount of taxes need to be paid to cover the basic infrastructure of a country. I'm sure many people in developing countries wouldn't mind paying more than 5 or 10% taxes if it meant they actually got something back for their…

You say solidarity. I say indoctrination. It's not solidarity if the government brainwashes people.

Of course we need infrastructure. You don't need taxes to get it.

Here's what taxes are: You think you know what I should do with my money.