The universe doesn't care what I think.

[Sarciness]

So... what's next in the Rybka/Fruit/Crafty saga? The ICGA did it's own investigation and found Vas guilty of using code from other programs. It sounds like their evidence is fairly watertight (I'm going on what has been said by members of the panel who I think probably know what they're talking about). Whether or not others (including myself) agree with the process, the judgement or the punishment is irrelevant. It's their tournament and they can interpret their rules as they wish.
Of course they cannot force Vas to repay the prize money (Vas denied this exists) or give back the trophies without a court order- but they don't seem to care. Is that fairly accurate?

So next is the Free Software Foundation's case against Vas. Is there likely to be a legal challenge. If so, what is the process and what are the possible outcomes?

Please don't turn this into a guilty/not guilty thread. Those are so tiresome! I just want to know what the FSF will do if they think Vas violated the GPL and how he can respond given that he can't just make the source public (he said he doesn't have it). What happens if he's unresponsive?

[bob]

So... what's next in the Rybka/Fruit/Crafty saga? The ICGA did it's own investigation and found Vas guilty of using code from other programs. It sounds like their evidence is fairly watertight (I'm going on what has been said by members of the panel who I think probably know what they're talking about). Whether or not others (including myself) agree with the process, the judgement or the punishment is irrelevant. It's their tournament and they can interpret their rules as they wish.
Of course they cannot force Vas to repay the prize money (Vas denied this exists) or give back the trophies without a court order- but they don't seem to care. Is that fairly accurate?

So next is the Free Software Foundation's case against Vas. Is there likely to be a legal challenge. If so, what is the process and what are the possible outcomes?

Please don't turn this into a guilty/not guilty thread. Those are so tiresome! I just want to know what the FSF will do if they think Vas violated the GPL and how he can respond given that he can't just make the source public (he said he doesn't have it). What happens if he's unresponsive?

Almost anything is possible. From the simplest... He agrees to comply with the GPL, and releases the source code to anyone that bought a copy of any version of Rybka proven to contain fruit source (proven by the FSF investigation).

To the most complicated, he refuses to cooperate, it ends up in court, and he is found guilty. There are criminal and civil penalties that can be imposed, the least of which would be monetary penalty awarded to Fabien/FSF.

[Sarciness]

Thanks for the reply. Do you know roughly how long these things tend to take? I know it will be somewhat dependant on whether Vas tries to co-operate/fight/ignore and the legal process, but are we talking weeks, months or years?

[bob]

Thanks for the reply. Do you know roughly how long these things tend to take? I know it will be somewhat dependant on whether Vas tries to co-operate/fight/ignore and the legal process, but are we talking weeks, months or years?

Absolutely no idea. Probably 6 months on the short side, 2 years or more if it goes to court.