Vernor No Longer in it Just for the Money
Perhaps still available, but no longer the only reason for the journey.
Public Citizen has identified misuse of eBay's Verified Rights Owners (VeRO) program as a key advocacy agenda item for 2007. It has already come to the aid of two other eBay sellers who were booted off eBay due to complaints from vendors.
Public Citizen is not interested in getting a quick settlement for Vernor. They want precedent. They believe vendors are taking unfair advantage of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, wielding enormous control over the rights of average consumers far in excess of settled law regarding copyright law and related notions of first sale and fair use.
If only shutting someone up with a cash settlement were easy.
Public Citizen sought Vernor, not the other way around. Last week Vernor told me that if he should suddenly disappear or refuse to answer my calls, it was because he had just accepted a generous settlement from The Big A and a stifling gag order to match.
Vernor will have trouble passing an airport metal scan if he accepts hush money from The Big A.
If this is poker game, Vernon has already raised his bet before Autodesk has had a chance to look at their cards. I’ll be seeing a few hands from The Big A next week at a little sorrier they are sponsoring for the media. Not likely I’ll get comments for publication about Mr. Vernor, but you never know.
One more thing. That little website caled Slashdot continues to follow this case, by linking to a sibling Engineering Automation Network publication. Slashdot readers love to comment on the issues. It seems that Vernor's new attorney was a programmer at Microsoft before becoming a lawyer. A Slashdotter asked how this guy had managed to sell his soul twice.
Live image of the second time one sells one's soul to the devil. The first time is more of a lease.
