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.
Something that Musk commissioned is badly constructed? That’s a first.
insert that clip from the IT crowd but instead of “made in britain” it’s “made by musk”
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/
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.
Also just to note, Nilay Patel literally has a JD, I think he knows that. Lol
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.
brb suing google because they had the ‘Don’t be evil’ motto.
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
@gerikson This article was so funny i read most of it aloud.