Liability - whoops I closed the door on the dog!

Plugins & Plugin Development General Plugin Discussion
#1

As a plugin developer, has anyone given any thought to liability issues?

As an extreme example - a garage door app. Someone blindly closes their garage door using an App you developed. Unfortunately, the door closes on a child severely injuring it (or worse). So they decide to sue the App developer for not ensuring that it is safe to close the garage door. For now, lets ignore the fact that there are supposed to be sensors installed with the garage door opener to prevent this.

Or something like that. Anyhow, it’s actually a genuine concern I have as an app developer. Does Vera force all users of an App to accept a “use at your own risk” at download time? I don’t think so, right.

Any thoughts?

#2

[quote=“Theboob, post:1, topic:181747”]As a plugin developer, has anyone given any thought to liability issues?

As an extreme example - a garage door app. Someone blindly closes their garage door using an App you developed. Unfortunately, the door closes on a child severely injuring it (or worse). So they decide to sue the App developer for not ensuring that it is safe to close the garage door. For now, lets ignore the fact that there are supposed to be sensors installed with the garage door opener to prevent this.

Or something like that. Anyhow, it’s actually a genuine concern I have as an app developer. Does Vera force all users of an App to accept a “use at your own risk” at download time? I don’t think so, right.

Any thoughts?[/quote]

That’s a pretty big nugget to ignore… anyway are you talking civil or criminal liability?

#3

I don’t know. I’m not a lawyer ;D. But I know how everyone sues everyone else nowadays.

So as a dumb app developer, do I have to worry about stuff like this? Even just defending yourself knowing you’d win the case (hopefully) can cost a lot of “lawyer money”.

It would be a shame as we are all just trying to basically help each other out by writing lots of code and releasing the apps to the public. It’s a great model, but the thought crossed my mind, so thought I’d ask.

#4

Every plugin should be provided under the terms of a license, and those terms should explicitly disclaim any responsibility for consequences of use or misuse. Do not offer a plugin without a license that includes these terms. Sections 15-17 of the GNU Public License v3 ([url=http://opensource.org/licenses/GPL-3.0]http://opensource.org/licenses/GPL-3.0[/url]) is a good example.

#5

[quote=“Theboob, post:3, topic:181747”]I don’t know. I’m not a lawyer ;D . But I know how everyone sues everyone else nowadays.

So as a dumb app developer, do I have to worry about stuff like this? Even just defending yourself knowing you’d win the case (hopefully) can cost a lot of “lawyer money”.

It would be a shame as we are all just trying to basically help each other out by writing lots of code and releasing the apps to the public. It’s a great model, but the thought crossed my mind, so thought I’d ask.[/quote]

That’s correct; you can be sued by anyone, for just about anything. I can only recommend that those concerned about exposure to contact a good liability attorney to evaluate and create a plan to limit your exposure to a possible case against you.
I think watou gave some good advice. I would however make certain the EULA is valid in your State.

#6

I see. It looks like when you add a plugin into the “app store”, you have to select one of 3 licenses. GPL, BSD or Proprietary. So I suppose one would just select the GPL license and that should cover it…maybe…Then I suppose to cover ones _ss a bit more, write a specific “not responsible” clause in the “help” page.

I don’t know…