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Elon Musk’s legal case against OpenAI is hilariously bad (www.theverge.com)

submitted 8 months ago by gerikson@awful.systems to c/techtakes@awful.systems

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Yes, I know it's a Verge link, but I found the explanation of the legal failings quite funny, and I think it's "important" we keep track of which obscenely rich people are mad at each other so we can choose which of their kingdoms to be serfs in.

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[–] tyler@programming.dev 1 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Uhhh. I mean sure he’s not going to get anywhere with this lawsuit, but contracts don’t have to even be written down to be valid legal things. The whole verge article is a mess honestly… https://www.lawdepot.com/resources/business-articles/are-verbal-contracts-legally-binding/

[–] cobra89@beehaw.org 6 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Did you read the sentence directly after? They never claimed that non-written contracts don't exist, they said they are very hard to uphold in court, which is perfectly true:

proving that an unwritten contract exists, what its terms are, and if they are enforceable is extraordinarily difficult, and courts do not like doing it, especially for ultra-sophisticated parties with a long history of dealing.

[–] cobra89@beehaw.org 7 points 8 months ago

Also just to note, Nilay Patel literally has a JD, I think he knows that. Lol

[–] tyler@programming.dev 0 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Saying “they need to be written down” and then immediately negating that point is absolutely terrible writing. And even a casual contract, like OpenAI’s where they literally have stated in writing for years what their “contract” is, would not be hard to understand.

Musk is a moron and this is clearly a ploy to gain some sort of control over OpenAI, but OpenAI is breaking what they said their goal was. I know that doesn’t mean there’s a contract there, but it has been written down numerous times what he’s claiming “the contract” is.

[–] sc_griffith@awful.systems 8 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Most importantly, contracts need to be written down — proving that an unwritten contract exists, what its terms are, and if they are enforceable is extraordinarily difficult, and courts do not like doing it, especially for ultra-sophisticated parties with a long history of dealing.

this isn't negating the point, it's explaining the point: they need to be written down, here's why. it's like saying someone needs to train for a marathon to run one, because otherwise it will be very hard to avoid muscle damage. there's no logical necessity but it makes sense as a practical claim

[–] Soyweiser@awful.systems 6 points 8 months ago

brb suing google because they had the 'Don't be evil' motto.

[–] dutchkimble@lemy.lol 0 points 8 months ago

Agree on all.