Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

Which countries would these be?


The US, for one. You can sue nearly anyone for nearly anything, even something you obviously won't win in court, as long as you find a lawyer willing to do it; you don't need any actual legal standing to waste the target's time and money.

Even the most unscrupulous lawyer is going to look at the MIT license, realize the target can defend it for a trivial amount of money (a single form letter from their lawyer) and move on.


You can sue for damages if they have malware in the code, there is no license that protects you from distributing harmful products even if you do it for free.


If I commit fraud, sure. But the code I release is extremely honest about what it does :)


There are other ways to litigate that the malicious/greedy can use, where MIT offers no protection; e.g. patent trolling.




Consider applying for YC's Winter 2026 batch! Applications are open till Nov 10

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: