On Sun, Mar 8, 2009 at 3:15 AM, Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> wrote:

>
>  I
> have, to the best of my understanding, a legal right to use material
> from the joint work in the way that I'm using it.


While I am fully aware that a public argument over this among
poorly-informed non-lawyers is possibly counterproductive and certainly
unhelpful, now I'm curious :) Many people involved with OSS are familiar
with the rough contours of copyright law as it applies to "derivative
works", but perhaps less familiar with how it applies in cases of disputes
between co-authors (if that is how you are framing the situation). So to
make your case "in the court of public opinion", I think the above statement
is what really needs a detailed justification. All the other issues raised
in the recent lengthy missives from both parties are chaff by comparison.

On a superficial scan of its contents, one might conclude that Tim's letter
to your lawyer may have been written in implied confidence, and if that was
the case then an outside observer might find it somewhat distasteful to post
it like this. Could your perhaps clarify the circumstances of that, as well?

 Mike Lin