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Re:Startups should not use React by Vinnl on Monday August 21, 2017 @07:30AM (#15063732)
Not a lawyer, but I can imagine it can be expected that you do some due diligence before installing it through npm - like checking the website whether their license allows you to use it, and on what terms.
Re:Startups should not use React by donkeyd on Monday August 21, 2017 @07:55AM (#15063860)
Exactly. The "they didn't force me to comply" defence hardly ever holds.

In the Netherlands, somebody was recently fined for using an image she got from a "free photo's" website. It was a picture that was illegally published on that website, and the judge said she should've checked whether it was actually royalty free. The fine was even higher than expected because she also cropped the picture, which was another breach of copyright, apparently.

Re:Startups should not use React by Confiks on Monday August 21, 2017 @08:07AM (#15063924)
If you refer to the case in De rijdende rechter ("The traveling judge"): she didn't have to pay a fine, but pay damages to the opposing party (which applies to civil rather than criminal law). In addition to that, both parties have agreed to submit to a binding arbitration decision, with the 'judge' actually being the arbitrator, despite what the program's name would suggest. That means that the decision doesn't actually have to follow the law.

I personally find it unhelpful that the program never clarifies that it is a display of binding arbitration instead of a decision by a judge. I've seen the layman confuse the two quite a few times.

Re:Startups should not use React by donkeyd on Tuesday August 22, 2017 @06:10AM (#15070994)
You are correct, damages, not a fine, I used the wrong word.

Also, while I agree that they don't have to follow the law, they usually do. In the end, the 'judgement' is still based on the law and legal precedent, like in an actual court case.

Re:Startups should not use React by CityWanderer on Monday August 21, 2017 @08:19AM (#15063985)
If what you say is true then I think our tool chains are failing us.

My React project has 1,015 dependencies (directories in node_modules). If I didn't have locked versions then every minor automatic update could bring in more dependencies without me knowing.

Can anyone honestly say they've done such due diligence?

Re:Startups should not use React by Silhouette on Monday August 21, 2017 @08:25AM (#15064029)
Can anyone honestly say they've done such due diligence?

That seems doubtful.

And that's a real and potentially serious problem, because IP laws typically don't contain any exemptions for code you're using that infringes someone's IP rights just because it was contributed by a third party.

Re:Startups should not use React by Vinnl on Monday August 21, 2017 @09:58AM (#15064651)
I agree that that would probably fall into the same category as saying that you've read the terms and conditions.

That said, the amount of dependencies you have locally installed is likely to be a multitude of the number you'd get if you'd exclude devDependencies, which I'm guessing don't count.