[Axiom-developer] GPLv2 goes to court

[daly]

http://opensource.com/law/14/7/lawsuit-threatens-break-new-ground-gpl-and-software-licensing-issues

This should be interesting to watch. It involves GPLv2, copyright
conditions vs covenant, "distribution to independent contractors" vs
"independent contractors are employees", and patents.

My reading of the docs leads me to bet that, on the conditions vs
covenant topic, the 'conditions' apply and there is copyright
infringement, possibly throwing it back into federal court.

On the "distribution to independent contractors" (triggering the
distribution clause) vs "independent contractors are employees"
(not a distribution) it seems that Ameriprise does not provide
independent contractors with an office, phone, or benefits so
they would not be considered employees. Thus, Ameriprise would
likely have "distributed" the software. 

The patent issue is too complex for me to even make a guess.
I'm not sure I even understand the concept of a software patent.

Anyway, in my opinion, Ameriprise is likely to lose.

But, in case it is not obvious, I'm not a lawyer.

Tim