[long] Re: Legal traps in open source

[Doug.Palmer at csiro.au]

> Suing someone because coffee is made with boiling water seems to me to
> be like suing a car manufacturer because their engine gets hot.

There's a little bit more to it than that.

McDonalds was using superheated water (not just boiling) to get more coffee
per coffee bean. The result was some seriously nasty burns -- not just the
sort of burns you'd get from splilling boiling water on yourself. McDonald's
refused to settle and so the case went to court. During discovery, 700
similar cases were discovered, indicating that McDonalds knew very well that
they were serving something more dangerous than a normal, sensible person
would assume.

http://www.lectlaw.com/files/cur78.htm
http://www.fortunecity.com/westwood/vivienne/438/rants139.html
http://www.techwr-l.com/techwhirl/archives/0208/techwhirl-0208-00006.html