Kiss Technology Counters MPlayer GPL Arguments

Kiss Technology Counters MPlayer GPL Arguments 634

Posted by simoniker on Monday January 12, 2004 @07:05PM from the kiss-off dept.

Snaller writes "Recently, MPlayer claimed that KISS Technology were violating the GPL by using parts of their MPlayer movie playback code in proprietary software. Now The Danish National Radio has interviewed the managing director of Kiss Technology, Peter Wilmar Christensen. He denies all claims of wrongdoing and suggests that if the pieces of code are the same, perhaps they were leaked from Kiss Technology and were then used by the Mplayer group. He also adds that the GPL is a weak license which has never been tested in court. Gabucino from the Mplayer team is furious, and accuses the director of outright lying."

Kiss Technology Counters MPlayer GPL Arguments

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KISS of death (Score:1, Funny)

by danormsby ( 529805 ) writes: on Monday January 12, 2004 @07:07PM (#7957162) Homepage

Is this the KISS of death for GPL?

Blame SCO (Score:1, Funny)

by big_groo ( 237634 ) writes: <groovis@[ ]il.com ['gma' in gap]> on Monday January 12, 2004 @07:07PM (#7957166) Homepage

The bastards.

And As Always... (Score:5, Funny)

by bfg9000 ( 726447 ) writes: on Monday January 12, 2004 @07:09PM (#7957187) Homepage Journal

...the way to show support for our mplayer friends is to slashdot them into infinity!

They should no better. (Score:5, Funny)

by pardasaniman ( 585320 ) writes: on Monday January 12, 2004 @07:09PM (#7957190) Journal

GPL has been tested over and over, and enforced too. Those who don't comply are slashdotted! (And some those who do too!) We slashdotted SCO, now we slashdot KISS.. Fear our wrath!

Re:well they can KISS my ass! (Score:1, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Monday January 12, 2004 @07:11PM (#7957217)

I believe you mean "liar, liar, pants on fire".

The True Meaning of KISS... (Score:5, Funny)

by deminisma ( 703135 ) writes: on Monday January 12, 2004 @07:14PM (#7957245)

Keep It Stolen, Stupid.

Breaking news... (Score:5, Funny)

by bennomatic ( 691188 ) writes: on Monday January 12, 2004 @07:14PM (#7957248) Homepage

SCO is apparently suing KISS for stealing their business model...

Re:GPL == strong (Score:4, Funny)

by johannesg ( 664142 ) writes: on Monday January 12, 2004 @07:15PM (#7957255)

Looking at the bright side, if he wants to see it tested in court so badly he may very well get his chance. In fact, if he tries hard enough he might just be able to squeeze in before SCO...

SCO Defense vs. Chewbacca Defense vs. OJ Glove (Score:2, Funny)

by CoreDump ( 1715 ) writes: on Monday January 12, 2004 @07:21PM (#7957316) Homepage Journal

I guess the next poll, should be "Lamest Legal Defense".
I think I'll vote for the "Cowboy Neal made me do it!" option.

Re:GPL == strong (Score:3, Funny)

by jg_elliott ( 731553 ) writes: on Monday January 12, 2004 @07:21PM (#7957325)

(Obligatory Starwars reference)
Even if it isn't strong, and it fails in court, something tells me that if you strike the GPL down, if will become more powerful than we can possibly imagine....

The Newest Defense (Score:5, Funny)

by Dark Paladin ( 116525 ) * writes: <jhummel@john h u m m e l . n et> on Monday January 12, 2004 @07:24PM (#7957347) Homepage

What may happen in the future....

GPL Group: Excuse me.

Evil Proprietary Company (EPC): Yes?

GPL Group: That's our code.

EPC: No, it's not.

GPL Group: Yes, it is. Look - you didn't even remove our "GPL License" warnings inside.

EPC: Oh, that. No, it looks like you stole our code.

GPL Group; What? Why would you put those warnings -

EPC: So we could prove when people steal our code! Now, leave us alone, you thieves!

GPL Group: Wait a second -

Scooby-Doo: Shaggy, look!

Fred: Why, it's Darl McBride! He's been making other perfectly honest proprietary companies look bad by giving code thieves an argument they can make to the press!

Darl McBride: And I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for you meddling kids! By the way, I invented that talking dog, and his royalties are mine! Mine, I tell you!

Velma: We knew the truth when we asked you to show us your code history through the CVS archives which clearly showed when the Open Source code was developed.

(Everyone else looks at her.)

Velma: What? Didn't I look hot in the movie?

Hopefully we can stop this evil before it spreads too far. No, not Velma looking really good in the next "Scooby Doo" movie, but companies stealing GPL code, then arguing "Well, *you* must have stolen it from us", even though they can't prove it.

Re:Around and round we go! (Score:2, Funny)

by Chainsaw Messiah ( 223587 ) writes: on Monday January 12, 2004 @07:26PM (#7957361)

" It really sounded like he had no idea what to say but decided to say it over and over again."
Well, when his company goes under, he'll have a bright future in politics.

Ah, yes, that makes perfect sense. (Score:5, Funny)

by Temporal ( 96070 ) writes: on Monday January 12, 2004 @07:28PM (#7957381) Journal

That's right... By some freak coincidence, KISS had developed a custom subtitle format and gave it the name "MPSub". You might think that the "MP" in that name stood for MPlayer -- you know, as if MPlayer had invented it -- but you would be wrong.

uhh...

hexapodia as the key insight (Score:1, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Monday January 12, 2004 @07:41PM (#7957499)

Wow, translating from PR-flack to Danish to Hungarian to English really did a number on that statement.

As soon as the MPlayer guys decide to sue... (Score:4, Funny)

by greg_barton ( 5551 ) * writes: <greg_barton@yah o o .com> on Monday January 12, 2004 @07:44PM (#7957529) Homepage Journal

...they're getting a donation from me.

Just say the word, guys.

Re:Not To Play Devil's Advocate (Score:1, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Monday January 12, 2004 @07:52PM (#7957598)

Why oh why is there not a "Stupid" option for moderation???

Re:GPL == strong (Score:1, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Monday January 12, 2004 @08:00PM (#7957659)

weak.

Re:Bad tactic (Score:4, Funny)

by Kenja ( 541830 ) writes: on Monday January 12, 2004 @08:53PM (#7958088)

But I'd have to first start buying their products inorder to stop.

Re:GNU's NOT EFF?? (Score:5, Funny)

by Waffle Iron ( 339739 ) writes: on Monday January 12, 2004 @09:47PM (#7958507)

GNU's NOT EFF!
Actually, GNE's not EFF.

j00 c4n7 y00z3 4ll0y5 & c0mp0unds & 7h1ng5 (Score:2, Funny)

by Deraj DeZine ( 726641 ) writes: on Monday January 12, 2004 @09:52PM (#7958539)

Please. DDoS, mailbombs? Only if your primitive mind can't come up with anything better. Me, I've still got some Anthrax leftover from my recent SCO fan mail mission.

I bet... (Score:3, Funny)

by Timbo ( 75953 ) writes: on Monday January 12, 2004 @10:10PM (#7958686) Homepage

...there is some junior software engineer at KISS sweating like a pregnant lesbian nun in a fish shop right now.

Re:Blame SCO (Score:2, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Monday January 12, 2004 @10:25PM (#7958780)

You're supposed to link that to SCO's website when you do that, so that Google will up their pagerank for that term. E.G. so that eventually SCO will be the most relevant result when you search for various obscenities.

Why? Because this is slashdot, and we have no lives ;)

Re:GPL == strong (Score:3, Funny)

by drsmithy ( 35869 ) writes: <drsmithy@ g m ail.com> on Monday January 12, 2004 @10:41PM (#7958882)

Change a letter to make Lindows, is it still a violation of just a similar name?
No, AFAIK it's a violation only when the changed name is being used in a similar market to sell an (ostensibly) competing product.
For example, if somebody started selling flat screen "Krinitron" TVs under the name ""Kony", then Sony might have something to say about it.

Re:Looks like the server is melting already... (Score:3, Funny)

by The Kow ( 184414 ) writes: <<putnamp> <at> <gmail.com>> on Monday January 12, 2004 @11:14PM (#7959212)

for shizzle, dogg. big ups to the new language movement, bra. i wit ya all de way. forreals. we be straight-up languafyin' up in dis heezy. hell jeah.

Re:Never attribute to malice... (Score:3, Funny)

by Shadowlore ( 10860 ) writes: on Monday January 12, 2004 @11:43PM (#7959467) Journal

I expect to see a lot more of this happening, especially as more and more software development is shipped overseas to countries that don't have a long tradition of IP protection.

You mean like Redmond, WA?

GPL Code Stolen!? (Score:2, Funny)

by dot-magnon ( 730521 ) writes: <co@aur[ ]ision.no ['alv' in gap]> on Tuesday January 13, 2004 @02:46AM (#7960486) Homepage

Tell SCO! Tell SCO!

It should be easy to convince SCO that their code is in mplayer, too. Imagine, what a wonderful world, offenders suing offenders!

Re:GPL == strong (Score:4, Funny)

by sparkes ( 125299 ) writes: on Tuesday January 13, 2004 @06:21AM (#7961167) Homepage Journal

Dam I just brought a Frinitron by Fony at Peckham market this morning. I was told it was rebadged Sony for the eastern european market.

Let's hope Dell Boy will give me a refund ;-)

Re:Why is it... (Score:1, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Tuesday January 13, 2004 @06:29AM (#7961190)

You know, when I first started reading forums I saw so many people who spelt losing as 'loosing' I began to think Americans had a different spelling for the word.

Re:GPL == strong (Score:2, Funny)

by Zwets ( 645911 ) writes: <jan DOT niestadt AT gmail DOT com> on Tuesday January 13, 2004 @07:02AM (#7961300) Homepage

...if somebody started selling flat screen "Krinitron" TVs under the name "Kony", ...

Hey, are the KDE guys diversifying? What next, flat screen Gnonitron TVs by Gnony? And which would be better..?

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Kiss Technology Counters MPlayer GPL Arguments 634

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Kiss Technology Counters MPlayer GPL Arguments

KISS of death (Score:1, Funny)

Blame SCO (Score:1, Funny)

And As Always... (Score:5, Funny)

They should no better. (Score:5, Funny)

Re:well they can KISS my ass! (Score:1, Funny)

The True Meaning of KISS... (Score:5, Funny)

Breaking news... (Score:5, Funny)

Re:GPL == strong (Score:4, Funny)

SCO Defense vs. Chewbacca Defense vs. OJ Glove (Score:2, Funny)

Re:GPL == strong (Score:3, Funny)

The Newest Defense (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Around and round we go! (Score:2, Funny)

Ah, yes, that makes perfect sense. (Score:5, Funny)

hexapodia as the key insight (Score:1, Funny)

As soon as the MPlayer guys decide to sue... (Score:4, Funny)

Re:Not To Play Devil's Advocate (Score:1, Funny)

Re:GPL == strong (Score:1, Funny)

Re:Bad tactic (Score:4, Funny)

Re:GNU's NOT EFF?? (Score:5, Funny)

j00 c4n7 y00z3 4ll0y5 & c0mp0unds & 7h1ng5 (Score:2, Funny)

I bet... (Score:3, Funny)

Re:Blame SCO (Score:2, Funny)

Re:GPL == strong (Score:3, Funny)

Re:Looks like the server is melting already... (Score:3, Funny)

Re:Never attribute to malice... (Score:3, Funny)

GPL Code Stolen!? (Score:2, Funny)

Re:GPL == strong (Score:4, Funny)

Re:Why is it... (Score:1, Funny)

Re:GPL == strong (Score:2, Funny)

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