The first ever US lawsuit against violation of the GPL
The Software Freedom Law Center announced today the first lawsuit in the history of the United States concerning the violation of the GPL license on behalf of its clients, the main developers of the busybox, against Monsun Multimedia. (Monsoon Multimedia, Inc.) Bisybox is a compact set of Unix utilities and is commonly used in embedded systems, being distributed under the second version of the GPL.
One of the conditions of GPL is the requirement providing source text to everyone who distributes bizybox Monsun Multimedia on its website openly acknowledges the use of bizybox in its products. However, the company did not provide the appropriate source code to anyone, which would correspond to the GPL.
“We are licensing a bizybox for GPL to give the user the freedom to change the code,” said Erik Andersen, the developer of bizybox and the plaintiff in a lawsuit filed on 19/09 with the Federal Court of Manhattan. “If the companies do not comply with the terms of the license, we have no choice but to ask our lawyers to do this through the courts.”
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The claim filed by YUPSP on behalf of the developers of bizybox, requires a private determination against Monsoon Multimedia. It also requires damages and the costs of the plaintiffs. A copy of the claim is available at www.softwarefreedom.org/news/2007/sep/20/busybox/complaint.pdf
“Free licenses like GPL are created to protect the user's freedom. If we do not pursue their fulfillment, they will not achieve their goal, ”said Eben Moglen, founder of UJTPS. “Our goal is to get Monsun Multimedia to play GPL.”
The cases “Eric Andersen and Rob Landly v. Monsun Multimedia” at number 07-CV-8205 will be heard by Senior District Judge John E. Sprizzo of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.
One of the conditions of GPL is the requirement providing source text to everyone who distributes bizybox Monsun Multimedia on its website openly acknowledges the use of bizybox in its products. However, the company did not provide the appropriate source code to anyone, which would correspond to the GPL.
“We are licensing a bizybox for GPL to give the user the freedom to change the code,” said Erik Andersen, the developer of bizybox and the plaintiff in a lawsuit filed on 19/09 with the Federal Court of Manhattan. “If the companies do not comply with the terms of the license, we have no choice but to ask our lawyers to do this through the courts.”
')
The claim filed by YUPSP on behalf of the developers of bizybox, requires a private determination against Monsoon Multimedia. It also requires damages and the costs of the plaintiffs. A copy of the claim is available at www.softwarefreedom.org/news/2007/sep/20/busybox/complaint.pdf
“Free licenses like GPL are created to protect the user's freedom. If we do not pursue their fulfillment, they will not achieve their goal, ”said Eben Moglen, founder of UJTPS. “Our goal is to get Monsun Multimedia to play GPL.”
The cases “Eric Andersen and Rob Landly v. Monsun Multimedia” at number 07-CV-8205 will be heard by Senior District Judge John E. Sprizzo of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/31257/
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