[OSGeo-Discuss] Liability Issues For Companies Supporting OpenSource Development

[Chris Puttick]

Well, no one. open source, closed source. One guy in Canada or the world's most profitable company.

And I quote: 

"YOU CANNOT RECOVER ANY OTHER DAMAGES, INCLUDING CONSEQUENTIAL, LOST PROFITS,
SPECIAL, INDIRECT OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES.
This limitation applies to
·
anything related to the software, services, content (including code) on
third party Internet sites, or third party programs; and
·
claims for breach of contract, breach of warranty, guarantee or condition,
strict liability, negligence, or other tort to the extent permitted by
applicable law.
It also applies even if
·
repair, replacement or a refund for the software does not fully compensate
you for any losses; or
·
Microsoft knew or should have known about the possibility of the damages.
Some states do not allow the exclusion or limitation of incidental or
consequential damages, so the above limitation or exclusion may not apply to you.
They also may not apply to you because your country may not allow the exclusion
or limitation of incidental, consequential or other damages." (c) Microsoft, from the Office 2007 Standard edition licence. 

The warranty section is even more fun. For those who doubt (read "those who never read the licence they are agreeing to"), this useful site should help them:

http://www.microsoft.com/about/legal/useterms/default.aspx

Where I got my copy of the licence from, having never been able to install MSO2k7 on my computers :)

Chris


----- "nicholas g lawrence" <nicholas.g.lawrence at mainroads.qld.gov.au> wrote:

> > And those clauses are modelled on the same sort of disclaimer found
> > in old-fashioned closed source software - it was realising that
> > which started me as a corporate type towards open source. :)
> 
> When I bring up open source in my workplace, the usual
> criticism is "who can I sue when things go wrong?"
> 
> There is a perception that if commercial proprietary software
> breaks, you can sue the supplier.
> 
> nick
> 
> 
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