Do something great, and out comes the weasel

[xiaan]

Well, I guess it was a matter of time. You all know me as Xiaan, but I'm also Christiaan van Woudenberg, the developer behind the front page story on MamboServer.com today:

http://mamboserver.com/index.php?opt...113&Itemid=104

An awesome achievement, could not have done it without Mambo or my teammates. But ... at 3:30 this afternoon, ON A SUNDAY, AT MY HOME, in sunny Colorado, who calls me but Brian Connolly, demanding to know if we're aware that we're using code stolen from him, and that he's successfully engaged many other companies who have ended up "cutting him large checks".

So my question is ... any advice for combatting these threats of litigation? We'll give the folks over at Miro a call in the morning, but any other advice would be helpful.

Christiaan

[Hospital]

Is this guy still around? This issue was delt with a long time ago. Please see here

http://www.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=04/09/29/000224

If this guy put the same effort into actually building his business the way he harasses people he would be a multi-millionare by now.

Let him pursue you and anyone else he wants. If he has nothing better to do with his money, let him blow it on a legal suit he has no chance of ever winning.

Infact, I'm almost tempted to change all my mambo sites and use the code in question. Then send him an email letting him know the wonderful job that the developers have done. If he had only waited a little longer, he could have gotten what he wanted for free.

[GRAM]

Christiaan:

First, congratulations on the fine work and well deserved award!

It sounds like Brian Connely has figured out how to make money by threatening business's with lawsuits. The cost of litigation alone will cause many to settle for some menial sum.

Brian is wanting you (or others) to pay him, for derivitave code that was based on GPL code. The GPL prohibits non-free distribution, and requires users of code licensed under it to (should they choose to distribute it) distribute their code under the same license.

I think their are going to be companies who will cave in order to avoid litigation. Just going to court at all costs many thousands of dollars, win or loose. In the face of this type of situation, the chance to settle a frivolous law suit for a few thousand dollars seems attractive. I can't come up with any other reason for anyone to cave under this type of demand, and have to assume they just don't understand the issues surrounding it.

Good Luck, this is MORE than rediculous. I guess you could state your case and see if he follows through with an actual filing of a suit. At least that way you would know he had already spent his own money to pursue this (which he may not do if he knows you are prepared to defend yourself).

You might want to ask him for a copy of a judgement against ANYONE, that he has won. You could even say that the legal minds at your company don't agree with him and that you need it to show to them. It would be interesting to see if he could actually come up with one. Be sure he doesn't fly a court ordered settlement by you, but a real judgement that has been argued in court.

GRAM

[danielbaer]

I don´t know what will happen next time: http://mamboportal.de/showpost.php?p=36766&postcount=11

[faoronin]

Apparently all the supposed attention didn't do mr connelly much good with his website, it hasn't been updated since.. December 2004.

[ledzep]

I am one of those that has been through the "Connelly wringer".

May I just say that:

First, he never substantiates his claims and use vague accusations to intimidate. Try tying him down to facts and proof to support his assertions. He never come up with the goods.

Second, he has a limited understanding of the Internet and how it works.

From your post you don't reveal what code your have alledgedly used and it is not clear from the Mambo article either. However, if you are using a version after 4.5 I cannot see how he thinks "his code" has been used. His accusations relate to a development that has long since be superceded.

I guess this is a cyclical thing, It was about this time last year that he started.

I do hope this is not going to be another waste of everybody's time and energy.

Well done Christiaan on a job well done and long live mambo.

[eyezberg]

1. Congrats to you.

2. Forget Mr. Stupid.
How does he dare say

Lastly, we deeply regret that we have no choice but to seek remedy from the users of Mambo. Mambo has explicitly informed us that "the Mambo project can offer no further assistance in this matter. Mambo can not be party to any disputes between individuals or companies concerning the use of Mambo." Plainly, it’s you the user they've left holding the bag.

He has a problem with Mambo/Miro, the code etc, but he's going after the users who just, well, use the code? Can't get money from Mambo/Miro (why?..), so "put the users of Mambo in legal jeopardy..." to make some cash, right? You must be kidding, dude.
According to him, "Mambo continues to benefit from the misappropriation of the code"; what benefit is there in GPL (FREE!) code?

just forget it, no need to start wasting time on this again.

http://www.golem.de/0409/33655.html if you read German..
The whole story again on Newsforge: http://www.newsforge.com/article.pl?.../09/17/2234245

NewsForge article 1 quote:

Mambo users are safe

After having argued on the Mambers message forums with developers and members of the Mambo community and seeing that no progress could be made, Connolly decided to move the issue to a larger venue. His final method of defending what he perceived to be his invention and property was to put up a Web site telling his half of the story and threatening to sue some of the approximately 5 million Mambo OS end-users. To better accomplish his goal, Connolly contacted SCO Group spokesman Blake Stowell and, during the course of a five to 10-minute phone conversation, obtained media contacts that Stowell thought would be helpful to Connolly's situation.

Nothing can stop Connolly from making good on his public threats to sue innocent end-users -- anyone can file a lawsuit for any reason -- but the legal basis for such action is nonexistent. Larry Rosen told us that he "could not imagine any court issuing a judgment against any user of software released under the GPL, as long as the user abides by the rules of the license."

From this NewsForge article on how to protect yourself against such attacks:

Connolly gave out his real name and contact information, and that's all that is required to do a little research to see if he has a past history of similar incidents. The people he has threatened would be better prepared to handle a future Connolly complaint if they know what he's done to others in the past. Using only Google and a request for tips on a public Mambo forum, NewsForge was able to collect numerous examples of Connolly's past online exploits. Indeed, it was not the first time that he had joined a public forum and proceeded to troll it.

Connolly has left a long and embarrassing trail of newsgroup, forum, and email messages that exhibit a certain pattern of behavior that in some ways remains consistent, and in others appears to be escalating. The latest of his messages deals with the Mambo project and are the most strange and vulgar of all his public campaigns. His tactics started out as blunderbuss attacks but have slowly been refined over time.

[xiaan]

I believe we are successfully dealing with this issue. To anyone else faced with similar experiences, please perservere! Do not offer any information, do not get angry, do not make any challenges, do not give this man an ounce of your time. Ignore all legal threats. Simply state that you are not stealing anything, you have done nothing wrong, and tell him to stop calling you.

Christiaan

[my3dscrapbook.com]

What should be done is a lawyer who is using mambo, should file a class action lawsuit on behalf of the users of mambo against Mr. Connoly. I am more than sure each of us can throw in a dollar towards it, which would more than cover the costs.

It would cost him millions to defend against it, even if it has no merit.

He would have to release the code to the court, which then becomes public knowledge, so that the users can remove the code from their website.

[aaaawow]

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