Linked by Thom Holwerda on Fri 26th Aug 2011 22:06 UTC, submitted by Morgan
And we have another contender for the stupidest technology-related lawsuit of 2011. Do you remember RealNetworks? The scourge of '90s web users? Lucky for us, their horrible media player is no longer a requirement on the web. Also lucky, for those of us who occasionally run into content encoded in any of Real's codecs, there's Real Alternative (download here). Well, apparently, RealNetworks is not happy with Real Alternative (download here), as the US company has completely destroyed the life of the Dutch maintainer of a website who dared to link to Real Alternative (download here).
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RE[5]: Comment by ilovebeer
by Soulbender on Sat 27th Aug 2011 03:53
in reply to "RE[4]: Comment by ilovebeer"
Member since:2005-08-18
RE[5]: Comment by ilovebeer
by Boldie on Sat 27th Aug 2011 18:14
in reply to "RE[4]: Comment by ilovebeer"
Member since:2007-03-26
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=www.free-codecs.com/download/r...
The above is a "I'm feeling lucky" search. Who is doing the evil linking now? Me? Osnews? Google?
Member since:
2006-09-21
The law is serving "the people", it just happens to be a group of people who you don't agree with.
I agree that the legal system is fucked up. A legal system where one has to back down or take on enormous debts to defend themselves isn't really a justice system since it really boils down to might makes right.
But if Real Alternative is just copying the codec DLLs and if the accused party is only linking to them, the guy is still breaking the law because he is assisting and encouraging a crime. And if they go after him for that, well, that is the consequences of his actions. The only problem that I see is that the court system is wreaking havoc upon his life before judgement is even rendered.