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If and when can you be sued for open source? Donationware?

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alivingspirit:
I have heard allot of conflicting reports about the legal status of open-source software. If you create something that infringes a copyright but distribute it as open source can you be sued and how badly? I know I'm wrong about this but I want some clarification. It seems to me that since you are not making money off of it theres not much the company can sue you for. Where does Donationware fit in to all this?

mouser:
anyone can get sued for anything.. whether you have money or not doesn't really affect that.
but how much money you are making (or causing someone else to lose) may affect the incentive for someone suing you.

ie if you are making millions -- people will sue you whether they have grounds or not.
if you are not making anything -- someone really has to have it out for you to sue you :)

justice:
just my uninformed opinion ;)
When something is open-source that doesn't exclude the fact that it can be violating patents etc of closed software or even other open source software AFAIK. So then you can still get sued as a developer of open source patent violating software ;)

However if you're talking about community owned open source software then perhaps you'd have to find the programmer responsible to sue or if the whole community is resposbile then sure the whole community which presents obvious obstacles.

Grorgy:
It may be worth your while contacting a lawyer who is expert in this area.  Being a lawyer they probably won't be cheap but if you have concerns about that type of thing then the cost is probably easier to bear than a resulting court case.

alivingspirit:
No, I'm not looking for legal advice. ;) I was just curious that's all. It seemed like an interesting topic. 

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