But this is absolutely a copyright issue! If a company has copyright on something I use, I need a license from them. Now we don't know what Russian courts will decide here, and we also don't know whether courts in other countries would respect that. What could happen as a worst case "robbery" scenario is that the developer is forced to agree they never had copyright!
So whether or not the claim was unjustified, it might become a huge problem not just for the individual developers of Nginx but for everybody distributing it or using it. And that has a lot to do with how copyright works.
Former CEO of Rambler at the time already said that the company had no claim on this and that they had an agreement about this exact issue back when Sysoev was hired. It can't be more clear than this.
I am not sure why this is being downvoted. If a Russian court determines (and/or the developer is forced to agree) that the BSD license was issued by someone who did not own the intellectual property, doesn't that create a significant legal issue for anyone who is using nginx under that BSD license since that license would no longer be valid?
Doesn't the potential for this exact sort of issue point out a flaw in how copyright law works (especially under international law?)
When you say "if a Russian court determines" this sounds like an insult to me. Simply check out how recently lots of people have been convicted for nothing, for a poster, a like, for jogging, for trying to get elected, for a youtube video.
I kindly ask you to stop believing that Russia is a place where unicorns shit with rainbow and courts work. No, they do not. And by not acknowledging putin's terror against us you literally deprive us of a right to become a normal country again one day.
I am not claiming anything about the justice or fairness of Russian courts, you are reading far more into my comment than was present. This is precisely why I mentioned that the developer may be forced to agree.
From my understanding of how copyright law works, if the local court determines that who a copyright holder is, international courts are required by treaty to uphold that determination.
But it doesn't matter if the court is just or not. What matters is whether the decision is official. Now, the rest of the world doesn't have to abide by the decision, but whether or not Russian courts are corrupt (they are) they do make decisions and there is sufficient law enforcement to bring those decisions to life.
Russian cangaroo courts determine only one thing: which side has more influence, and rule in favour of prevailing one. The side that can call an FSB raid on an opponent is obviously way more influential.
Russian "court" can "determine" whatever whoever paid the court wants it to "determine". It's not a flaw in the copyright law - it's a flaw in Russia having no real independent non-corrupt court system. You can't fix this flaw by writing different license or signing some different papers.
So whether or not the claim was unjustified, it might become a huge problem not just for the individual developers of Nginx but for everybody distributing it or using it. And that has a lot to do with how copyright works.