[SciPy-User] Matlab trademark - was: Re: SciPy-User Digest, Vol 82, Issue 49

[David Goldsmith]

On Sun, Jun 20, 2010 at 1:51 PM, Matthew Brett <matthew.brett at gmail.com>wrote:

> Hi,
>
> > Those are nice arguments, but neither of us is a lawyer.  If there's
> > one thing I've learned about the law, it's that precedent, argument,
> > and demonstration of a loss (whether justly attributed to the
> > defendent or not) play much larger roles in comparison to the text of
> > the law than folks like ourselves would like to believe.  You really
> > can argue, successfully, what "is" means, and a significant lawsuit,
> > even one defended successfully, can wreck a small company.  So, why
> > don't we see what the real lawyers have to say about it?  I was doing
> > just that but needed to respond to David's premature (and incorrect)
> > speculation.  I'm not saying that your arguments are wrong, I'm just
> > waiting for the lawyers who can say it based on precedent and their
> > expertise applying the law,
>
> It seems sensible and reasonable to get a lawyer's opinion.  It would
> be a shame though, if we ended up taking an over-conservative
> approach, because I think it doesn't make us look very good if we put
> a lot of defensive legal stuff into our code.
>
> > rather than Wikipedia.
>
> Dammit - Wikipedia again.  If you think my arguments are unsound, or
> Wikipedia or the other links I sent are poorly informed on this issue,
> please say why.  Otherwise it's just patronizing.
>

Wikipedia's quality control process is certainly rigorous enough for some
purposes (e.g., settling a bet w/ someone who agrees to let Wikipedia be the
arbiter of truth on the matter, or answering a question with a low cost of
being wrong) but I don't think its QC process is rigorous enough to count on
it when some manner of liability is at issue, that's all.  That's why, for
example, we strongly prefer not to use Wikipedia (or any other electronic
reference whose stability is unrelaible) as the sole reference for things in
NumPy/SciPy docstrings.

DG

>
> See you,
>
> Matthew
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-- 
Mathematician: noun, someone who disavows certainty when their uncertainty
set is non-empty, even if that set has measure zero.

Hope: noun, that delusive spirit which escaped Pandora's jar and, with her
lies, prevents mankind from committing a general suicide.  (As interpreted
by Robert Graves)
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