In October, we blogged about a lawsuit against the editors of tz info, the time zone database for Unix. The editors were sued by a company called Astrolabe, Inc., who claimed a copyright interest in data used to populate the database.
The lawsuit was voluntarily dismissed by the plaintiff this week. It turns out the EFF got involved. According to their statement,
“In January, EFF advised Astrolabe that Olson and Eggert would move for sanctions if Astrolabe did not withdraw its complaint. Today’s dismissal followed.”
Astrolabe agreed to dismiss the suit and a covenant not to sue in the future. Their statement included this gem:
“Astrolabe’s lawsuit against Mr. Olson and Mr. Eggert was based on a flawed understanding of the law. We now recognize that historical facts are no one’s property and, accordingly, are withdrawing our Complaint.”
