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Comment by shkkmo | Hacker News Reader

I am not sure why this is being downvoted. If a Russian court determines (and/or the developer is forced to agree) that the BSD license was issued by someone who did not own the intellectual property, doesn't that create a significant legal issue for anyone who is using nginx under that BSD license since that license would no longer be valid?

Doesn't the potential for this exact sort of issue point out a flaw in how copyright law works (especially under international law?)

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When you say "if a Russian court determines" this sounds like an insult to me. Simply check out how recently lots of people have been convicted for nothing, for a poster, a like, for jogging, for trying to get elected, for a youtube video.

I kindly ask you to stop believing that Russia is a place where unicorns shit with rainbow and courts work. No, they do not. And by not acknowledging putin's terror against us you literally deprive us of a right to become a normal country again one day.

(just in case, I didn't downvote the post above)

I am not claiming anything about the justice or fairness of Russian courts, you are reading far more into my comment than was present. This is precisely why I mentioned that the developer may be forced to agree.

From my understanding of how copyright law works, if the local court determines that who a copyright holder is, international courts are required by treaty to uphold that determination.

In America our courts work better, but we still have a lot of improvement. Hopefully your countrh serves as a warning to us and not as a whipping boy.

But it doesn't matter if the court is just or not. What matters is whether the decision is official. Now, the rest of the world doesn't have to abide by the decision, but whether or not Russian courts are corrupt (they are) they do make decisions and there is sufficient law enforcement to bring those decisions to life.

Russian cangaroo courts determine only one thing: which side has more influence, and rule in favour of prevailing one. The side that can call an FSB raid on an opponent is obviously way more influential.

Source: I'm from Russia.

Russian "court" can "determine" whatever whoever paid the court wants it to "determine". It's not a flaw in the copyright law - it's a flaw in Russia having no real independent non-corrupt court system. You can't fix this flaw by writing different license or signing some different papers.

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