Groklaw

Groklaw is a website that covered legal news of interest to the free and open source software community. Started as a law blog on May 16, 2003, by paralegal Pamela Jones ("PJ"), it covered issues such as the SCO-Linux lawsuits, the EU antitrust case against Microsoft, and the standardization of Office Open XML. Jones described Groklaw as "a place where lawyers and geeks could explain things to each other and work together, so they'd understand each other's work better". Its name derives from "grok", roughly meaning "to understand completely", which had previously entered geek slang. Other topics covered included software patents, DMCA, the actions of the RIAA against alleged illegal file sharers, and actions against free and open software such as Android and Linux. According to a 2003 interview with Jones, the blog was started to cover legal news and to explain it to the tech community. The first article was entitled The Grokster Decision – Ode To Thomas Jefferson. It was about the effect of on the music industry, and the recent (at that time) court decision in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Inc., et al., Plaintiffs, vs. Grokster, Ltd., et al., Defendants, by Judge Steven Wilson in favor of the defendants. It also covered the previous Napster decision, and why it was different, causing Napster to be shut down. The article included a quote from Thomas Jefferson and references to David Boies, who was Napster's attorney. The second post, on May 17, 2003, also covered legal issues – the SCO v. IBM lawsuit – entitled SCO Falls Downstairs, Hitting its Head on Every Step. It criticized Caldera Systems for the way they were handling the suit outside of court, and included quotes from Bruce Perens, Richard Stallman, Steve Ballmer, and Linus Torvalds. It ended: David Boies has agreed to represent SCO. I am trying to remind myself that our legal system is predicated on lawyers sometimes representing people they don't personally admire, and the system really does depend on someone being willing to take on unpopular clients.