I’m not really big on “let’s make a movement”, but this independent dev has been hit with a cease-and-desist from making a FOSS Home Assistant addon for their Haier air conditioners.

Haier claims that they are losing out on millions of dollars due to this plugin which… lets you control their air conditions from home assistant. They haven’t bothered to explain how that’s possibly worth millions of dollars - they’re just claiming it.

So of course they hit the Streisand button and are demanding that he takes it down. He of course is complying… in a couple of days. Maybe you see where this is going.

It would be an absolute shame if any of you just happened to create a fork, or clone the code, or mirror it in your own instance. An absolute shame.

Just so everyone here knows which repositories NOT to clone or fork, here are the two links:

and please, don’t repost this anywhere, or share it in other communities, or anything like that. It’s a shame that so many people already know and are making clones. I’m just letting you know so you don’t do anything like telling others who may make their own copies.

(sidenote: Haier owns GE Appliance, so for our American folks it may affect you folks too)

  • density@kbin.social
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    10 months ago

    But the defendant still has to put the funds up in the first place? It’s a huge gamble and most people don’t even have the ante available.

    Is there anywhere in the world that has a robust and comprehensive public funding for legal entanglements of all types?

    • TWeaK@lemm.ee
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      10 months ago

      Yes they do have to fund their defense to begin with, however there has to be some balance struck. Until the court proceedings are concluded it isn’t known which side is in the right.

      I think most countries’ public funding for legal representation is limited to criminal matters, and even then you have to qualify (eg have a very low income or be unemployed). With civil matters, it’s up to you to find a lawyer you can afford, or one who will take it on pro bono.

      If the defendent is obviously in the right, then it should be more likely that they can find a lawyer who will work pro bono.

      • density@kbin.social
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        10 months ago

        it isn’t known which side is in the right

        vs

        If the defendent is obviously in the right

        • TWeaK@lemm.ee
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          10 months ago

          One is before the trial happens, one is after the trial happens.

          Before the trial happens, it could really go either way, even if the defendant is obviously in the right - there could be some procedural slip up that causes them to lose anyway.

          After the trial is completed, if it was obviously in the defendant’s favour, then it will be more likely that the judge will award costs such that the plaintiff pays the defendant’s.

          • AeonFelis@lemmy.world
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            10 months ago

            I wish Lemmy showed you more of the context than just the last reply.

            You can keep pressing on “Show context” to load more replies, up until the top level one.

            • TWeaK@lemm.ee
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              10 months ago

              Yeah I know, however when you reply to someone from a notification you just want to reply.

              Also, when you move up the context on a Lemmy thread you see each comment and all its other comments. If the comment chain you’re replying on isn’t the top thread, then you get cluttered up with all the others. On reddit, context meant you only saw the comments that directly lead to the comment you were deriving context from. Furthermore, context was derived from the comment URL with a ?context=3 suffix, so you could easily specify how far up the chain you wanted to go.

              Lemmy does context differently, but I prefer reddit’s method.

    • NeoNachtwaechter@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      But the defendant still has to put the funds up in the first place? It’s a huge gamble

      Good point. Actually it isn’t a huge gamble in Germany, other than in Usa (which is again the extremely worst example).

      Costs of legal defense are moderate. There is a public tariff for lawyer costs and for court fees. So the only areas where you even have a chance to spend huge amounts are finding or creating evidence (private investigators etc), or hiring too many lawyers.

      • density@kbin.social
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        10 months ago

        It seems that hourly rates of german lawyers are €100 to €500 which is about what I would expect. Even a few hours of time is a lot. To explain the case, have the lawyer or their designate review it, prepare for a case and show up to court is many hours at a minimum. Even if it is a simple matter.

        • NeoNachtwaechter@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          That linked text is very, very wrong.

          Better delete your comment about it, from lemmy and from your brain.