Court Rules GPL Doesn't Violate Antitrust Laws

unix4reel writes "Internet Cases reports on a new decision from a federal court in Chicago holding that 'the GPL and open-source have nothing to fear from the antitrust laws. The suit was against IBM, Red Hat and Novell, arguing that by distributing Linux for free, they offered products at an unbeatably low price (free), thus discouraging new market entrants and stifling competition. The court took a different view, focusing instead on how the GPL fosters new development."

Comments

Re:Isn't that Wallace the Spam King?

[egarff]

The closest info I could find is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Wallace_(plain tiff)

This isn't obvious

[MobyDisk]

(IANAL)

It sounds like the case didn't deal with the GPL directly. The case dealt with selling software below cost. This is important, because in some states it is illegal to sell commodities below cost. (This was to deal with Wal-mart offering loss-leaders and driving small companies out of business). So it is a valid question to ask: Is it legal to sell software below cost? The court found that unlike commodities, the software industry can thrive with companies offering free software. That makes sense to me.

To put a fine point on this, it has little to do with the GPL (a copyright) since this was not an analysis of copyright. And it had little to do with open-source, since I can sell open-source software. It deals with free (as in beer) software.

Re:Unbeatable price?

[Roger_Wilco]

Wrong.

Like copyright law, the GPL says nothing about users. It merely grants people the right to make copies under certain conditions. Since using it does not require any permissions you do not already have, you do not need to accept the license to use it.

The same would be the case for non-free software, except for the existance of EULAs. (And they may be on shaky legal ground.)

Seriously, folks, read it sometime. It's the clearest bit of legalese you're likely to find.

That's Daniel Wallace

[darthlurker]

Not Spamford. Sounds like another "entrepreneur" who's considerable initiative and risk appears to be the extremely dangerous task of filing lawsuits. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Wallace_(plain tiff)

Same person that sued FSF

[Dr_Art]

This is the same person that unsuccessfully sued the FSF, also for alleged antitrust reasons.

GPL has no price

[DragonWriter]

I would contend that OSS released under GPL does have a price.. that is, accepting of the GPL itself.

And you would be wrong, since accepting the GPL is not required to receive or use GPL'd software, by the terms of the GPL itself. It is only required to have the privilege of modifying or distributing software distributed under the GPL. Its not an EULA. You lose no right that you had without the GPL when you accept the GPL, you simply gain limited privileges that you did not have before.

Re:Victory over a paper tiger.

[kilgortrout]

The author of this opinion, Judge Easterbrook of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, is from the University of Chicago and is very highly respected, particularly for his opinions dealing with economic issues. He is a Reagan appointee and is noted as a very intelligent and intellectual free market proponent, in keeping with his U of C econ background. His opinions carry a lot of weight among other judges within the federal judiciary, particularly on commercial and antitrust issues.

He also has a reputation of not suffering fools lightly and he can be extremely confrontational in oral argument. I've argued two appeals before him and it's an experience I'll never forget. At any rate, the fact that this opinion came from Judge Easterbrook will carry a great deal of weight. The precedent isn't tarnished by the lackluster plaintiff. Nobody else would have the balls to contend the GPL violates antitrust laws; it's a frivolous argument from a nut. I'm sure Easterbrook tore this guy a new one in oral argument.