AT&T lawyer stopped Plan 9 release CD with songs by Lou Reed, Debbie Harry
People questioning whether the lawyer really had the power to block this don't know how legal departments in big corporations work, as others have pointed out.<p>A lawyer usually cannot get in trouble for saying No. They can only get in trouble for saying Yes. They feel they're doing their jobs by saying No and they'll also use the phrase "out of an abundance of caution."<p>The lawyer's supervisor is <i>very</i> rarely going to overrule him or her and say Yes. They will just say "it's their case, they're in charge." They defer to each other that way.<p>This probably seems excessively cynical to you. Indeed it doesn't always turn out this way. Sometimes rationality prevails.