VMware summoned for violation of the GPL
Software Freedom Conservancy announced today the start of a lawsuit against Christoph Hellwig v. VMware in the Hamburg District Court. “This is a sad but necessary next step in the continuous attempts by Hellwig and Software Freedom Conservancy to convince VMware to properly comply with the terms of the GPLv2 license,” said a press release.
It is the GPLv2 license used in Linux and other free software that VMware includes in its ESXi hypervisors.
German programmer Christoph Hellwig is one of the main developers of the Linux kernel ( 2,206 commits from last year) and one of the first program participants to provide legal assistance to developers of the Linux kernel in trying to ensure that products meet the terms of a free license.
Christoph Hellwig publicly claimed violations of the GPL by VMware back in 2007. In 2011, it turned out that VMware refuses to provide the source code for the version of BusyBox, which it ships with ESXi, which violates the license BusyBox (GPLv2).
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Negotiations with VMware about this started in early 2012 and continued in 2013, but to no avail.
Hellvig joined the aforementioned Software Freedom Conservancy program at the end of 2012 and assisted in the analysis of non-eligible licenses for ESXi releases provided by VMware. A careful and lengthy study of these materials presented by the American corporation revealed another fact: the current ESXi hypervisors violate many intellectual property rights belonging to Hellwig personally, that is, contain fragments of code written by him without a corresponding GPLv2 license.
During the Hellwig investigation, the organization continued negotiations with VMware. Unfortunately, in 2014, it showed no desire to stop distributing proprietary software based on the source code of Hellwig and other Linux developers, despite the conditions of GPLv2. Therefore, there was no choice but to support Hellwig in a lawsuit.
Software Freedom Conservancy emphasizes that VMware mixed the GPLv2 code of Hellwig and other developers with its proprietary code called vmkernel and distributed this common package.
Software Freedom Conservancy and Hellwig do not comment on the progress of the trial because they are participants in it, but the Conservancy will update the FAQ page on this case when appropriate.
Bradley Kuhn, President of Software Freedom Conservancy (Bradley M. Kuhn), noted that the number of violations of the GPL has grown by many orders in the 20 years he has been working in this area. “We have to repel violators in order to show free software to individual developers and enthusiasts: saving copyleft is a good strategy to get better access to the source code, rights to change it, improve it and publish it. I ask everyone to support the Conservancy in these actions. ”
Grant Likely, another kernel developer and chairman of the Linux Foundation's technical advisory board, added: “GPL licensing is the cornerstone of Linux development. The principle of copyleft “fair to honest” largely determined the extraordinary success of Linux and created a huge ecosystem of companies that benefit from Linux. The entire ecosystem is undermined when the sharing principles of the GPL are ignored. ”
Software Freedom Conservancy considers legal action as a last resort and supports such actions only in cases where the remaining funds have been exhausted.
It is the GPLv2 license used in Linux and other free software that VMware includes in its ESXi hypervisors.
German programmer Christoph Hellwig is one of the main developers of the Linux kernel ( 2,206 commits from last year) and one of the first program participants to provide legal assistance to developers of the Linux kernel in trying to ensure that products meet the terms of a free license.
Christoph Hellwig publicly claimed violations of the GPL by VMware back in 2007. In 2011, it turned out that VMware refuses to provide the source code for the version of BusyBox, which it ships with ESXi, which violates the license BusyBox (GPLv2).
')
Negotiations with VMware about this started in early 2012 and continued in 2013, but to no avail.
Hellvig joined the aforementioned Software Freedom Conservancy program at the end of 2012 and assisted in the analysis of non-eligible licenses for ESXi releases provided by VMware. A careful and lengthy study of these materials presented by the American corporation revealed another fact: the current ESXi hypervisors violate many intellectual property rights belonging to Hellwig personally, that is, contain fragments of code written by him without a corresponding GPLv2 license.
During the Hellwig investigation, the organization continued negotiations with VMware. Unfortunately, in 2014, it showed no desire to stop distributing proprietary software based on the source code of Hellwig and other Linux developers, despite the conditions of GPLv2. Therefore, there was no choice but to support Hellwig in a lawsuit.
Software Freedom Conservancy emphasizes that VMware mixed the GPLv2 code of Hellwig and other developers with its proprietary code called vmkernel and distributed this common package.
Software Freedom Conservancy and Hellwig do not comment on the progress of the trial because they are participants in it, but the Conservancy will update the FAQ page on this case when appropriate.
Bradley Kuhn, President of Software Freedom Conservancy (Bradley M. Kuhn), noted that the number of violations of the GPL has grown by many orders in the 20 years he has been working in this area. “We have to repel violators in order to show free software to individual developers and enthusiasts: saving copyleft is a good strategy to get better access to the source code, rights to change it, improve it and publish it. I ask everyone to support the Conservancy in these actions. ”
Grant Likely, another kernel developer and chairman of the Linux Foundation's technical advisory board, added: “GPL licensing is the cornerstone of Linux development. The principle of copyleft “fair to honest” largely determined the extraordinary success of Linux and created a huge ecosystem of companies that benefit from Linux. The entire ecosystem is undermined when the sharing principles of the GPL are ignored. ”
Software Freedom Conservancy considers legal action as a last resort and supports such actions only in cases where the remaining funds have been exhausted.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/357506/
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