From: Nichael Lynn Cramer Subject: Laches Message-Id: >From: "Philip Knudsen" > >This confirms a common (european?) prejudice about the U.S. and their >tendency to file lawsuits over just about anything. >I feel certain Rubik himself would have nothing against Byrden's >online cube. On the other hand it's good to know his business is well >taken care of... [Apologies for taking this even farther off topic. But in an attempt to clear up one point...] Indeed it's quite possible that Rubik knows nothing about it. The issue here is the legal concept of "Laches", which says --effectively-- that if it can be shown that you, the copyright owner, did not pursue all incidents of copyright infringement of which you were aware, then the copyrighted item is in real danger of being declared as in the public domain. (This is also what's behind those silly stories of, say, some vet in the wilds outside Buccolia, Maine with a picture of Snoopy painted on his barn who one day gets a letter from Charles Schulz's lawyers requesting that he either remove the picture or else sign a license arrangement at a zillion dollars a year.) So, in short, a copyright owner is legally "required" to go after _any_ known or perceived abuse of the copyright or face the very real danger of losing it. Nichael Cramer nichael@sover.net Gather the folks, tell the stories, http://www.sover.net/~nichael/ break the bread. -- John Shea ------------------------------ To: cube-lovers@ai.mit.edu