Just look at today's news... Statement in support of Software Freedom Conservancy and Christoph Hellwig, GPL enforcement lawsuit
On Thursday, March 5, 2015, Christoph Hellwig, with support from the Software Freedom Conservancy <https://sfconservancy.org/>, filed suit in Hamburg, Germany <https://sfconservancy.org/news/2015/mar/05/vmware-lawsuit/> against VMware Global, Inc. Hellwig is a prominent contributor to the kernel Linux, releasing his contributions under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL) version 2. VMware, like everyone, is free to use, modify, and distribute such software under the GPL, so long as they make available the human-readable source code corresponding to their version of the software when they distribute it. This simple and fair obligation is the cornerstone of the successful cooperation we've seen for decades between organizations both for-profit and non-profit, users, and developers—the same cooperation which has given us the GNU/Linux operating system and inspired a wealth of free software programs for nearly every imaginable use. Unfortunately, VMware has broken this promise by not releasing the source code for the version of the operating system kernel they distribute with their ESXi software. Now, after many years <https://sfconservancy.org/linux-compliance/vmware-lawsuit-faq.html> of trying to work with VMware amicably, the Software Freedom Conservancy and Hellwig have sought the help of German courts to resolve the matter. While the Free Software Foundation (FSF) is not directly involved in the suit, we support the effort. "From our conversations with the Software Freedom Conservancy, I know that they have been completely reasonable in their expectations with VMware and have taken all appropriate steps to address this failure before resorting to the courts. Their motivation is to stand up for the rights of computer users and developers worldwide, the very same rights VMware has enjoyed as a distributor of GPL-covered software. The point of the GPL is that nobody can claim those rights and then kick away the ladder to prevent others from also receiving them. We hope VMware will step up and do the right thing," said John Sullivan, FSF's executive director. The suit and preceding GPL compliance process undertaken by Conservancy mirror the work that the FSF does in its own Licensing and Compliance Lab. Both the FSF and Conservancy take a fair, non-profit approach to GPL enforcement <https://www.fsf.org/licensing/compliance>, favoring education and collaboration as a means of helping others properly distribute free software. Lawsuits are always a last resort. You can support Conservancy's work on this case by making a donation <https://sfconservancy.org/donate/>. Media Contact John Sullivan Executive Director Free Software Foundation +1 (617) 542 5942 [email protected] Read this online: https://www.fsf.org/news/conservancy-and-christoph-hellwig-gpl-enforcement-lawsuit On Thu, Mar 5, 2015 at 10:31 PM, <[email protected]> wrote: > On Friday, March 6, 2015 at 5:42:22 AM UTC+10, Michal Suchanek wrote: > > Sure, allwinner is required, legally, to release some sources. And it > > might have signed some NDAs to not release them so it may as much > > legally be obliged to not release the same sources. It might in fact > > have put itself into a situation when it is not allowed to ship a > > product with this software, legally. > > > > However, the copyright of the ffmpeg authors or Linux authors is > > somewhat theoretical in China while the NDA they signed with the > > business next door is much less. > > > > Michal this logic is wrong. Customs I was referring is China own customs. > > http://www.chinabusinessreview.com/tackling-intellectual-property-infringement-in-china/ > You will find customs as one of the methods to enforce against > intellectual property infringement this includes copyright infringement. > > > 1/2 a million routers were crushed by China customs when a company refused > to release firmware source code as required and their website blocked by > the great china firewall. The GUY next door with the NDA over Allwinner is > not going to help Allwinner when the products are crushed and Allwinner web > site is blocked from the outside world by the great china firewall. > > FOSS enforcement only seams theoretical in China because FOSS does not do > it often. Also normally when FOSS enforcement does happen to Chinese > companies they mostly go out of business. > > The router vendor tired that Chinese smiley face method as well. > > Allwinner need to make up its mind either it only sells inside china or it > want to sell to the world. If it wants to sell to the world software > infringement is not on. > > Also remember github is USA so anything infringing hosted on github can > be removed by DCMA orders. Due to this infringement being found the > source code need to be mirror to a country where copyright cannot be > enforced until its fixed. In fact to remain legally clear it should be > removed from github by them until its fixed. > > This is the multi country legal problem. > > > And as has been pointed out the situation can be 'corrected' by > > releasing modularized sources with the blobs as properly separated > > modules without providing anything useful to linux-sunxi at all. > > Other than the fact it legally should not be on github in it current state > and can be removed at any time due to the fault by a DCMA order. So the > benefit it gives linux-sunxi is legal right to use more hosting. > > Please note China customs the person who can place complain is a FOSS > developer or one of their competitors. This is why this is so serous the > FOSS developer may do nothing against Allwinner but one of Allwinner > competitors take this information to put them out of business. > > Peter Dolding > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "linux-sunxi" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "linux-sunxi" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
