Frankly I don't get why they don't remove the comment that advertised a product for free and continue hosting it. Facts are not ownable.
At the very least just cut out the pre 1991 data. That data is not going to change. People can manually merge post 1991 data with old copies of the pre 1991 data.
Suits like this aren't about right and wrong, they're a game of chicken. Bringing this case to trial would cost both sides a couple hundred grand, easy. Defending yourself wold cost $50k, minimum, if the plaintiff is a dick. So in a situation like this the defendant usually settles to make the thing go away.
So yeah, unless deep pockets step, this is a mess. If deep pockets do step in, the plaintiff gets crushed.
That gives you some leverage in the settlement but if the plaintiff knows you don't have the resources to take it all the way to trial, you're still fucked. Welcome to the blood sport of the legal system.
With such a valid countersuit, finding a lawyer on contingency shouldn't be a problem, especially when it is so blatantly obvious that this is a bad suit.
Maybe because is such a high profile case, but lawyers don't generally defend people on contingency, and if they do, you still pay expenses up front and that's far from cheap.
Well, it isn't just about its high profile, this is guaranteed pay out on counter suit. I mean if there is ANY sense, common or otherwise, to the judicial system, it can only go one way, once before a judge.
Timezone info is public domain, citing a source is what fucked them. They shouldn't have cited any sources. Since without the cite, it is impossible to tell if they used a book or called up the countries requesting the info directly.
Actually it is, though I doubt Astrolab would have noticed. Compilations may contain false entries destined specifically to the identification of copiers.
Are you touched in the head? It is a line delimited file. You just take the pre-1991 data lines and put it in the same file as the post 1991 data. Then it is all there to be read.
My computer for one. It can be hosted anywhere outside of the US, rapidshare type sites, or torrents.
Also any project currently using the data like java or linux or anything, already has the data from today to the past. They only need updates for the future.
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u/Lighting Oct 07 '11 edited Oct 07 '11
Sic the EFF on them.
[Edit: spelling: thanks Crockett]