GNU GPL Punch-up in the Offing?

One of the unusual things about the GNU GPL is that it uses traditional law to untraditional things. This means that there's plenty of scope for argument (which is why the GNU GPL provokes such strong emotions, I suppose). It also means there's plenty of scope for litigation, and yet there's been surprisingly little so far.

That fact makes this spat about GNU GPL'd software noteworthy, since it might even get to court. That's good news - for the licence, at least, because every court case helps make clearer to people, especially corporate lawyers, just what the GNU GPL does, and how it does it. And so, paradoxically, every court case makes the licence stronger, at least in terms of its effect on the non-hacker world. (Via Slashdot.)