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Expert Says Cisco's iPhone violates GPL

Posted by samzenpus on from the take-that dept.

Stony Stevenson writes "Even while Cisco Systems is suing Apple for violating its iPhone trademark, an open-source enthusiast is accusing Cisco itself of infringing copyright in the same product. From the article: "Cisco has not published the source code for some components of the WIP300 iPhone in accordance with its open-source licensing agreement, said Armijn Hemel, a consultant with Loohuis Consulting and half of the team running the GPL Violations Project, an organization that identifies and publicizes misuse of GPL licenses and takes some violators to court."

2 of 193 comments (clear)

  1. Single page version of the article by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Can be found here. No ads, pleasant to read, all on one page! (Posting AC to avoid karma whore accusations).

  2. Re:Anyone who owns one of these phones ask? by hp48 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Did anyone who purchased one of these phones ask for the source? They don't have to put the source out there for the general public.

    Actually, according to the GPL, if they don't provide the source with every phone then they DO have to give it to anyone in the general public upon request - until they've sold or otherwise "distributed" the last one and for a period of time thereafter.

    Actually, according the the GPL, they don't. They just have to give it to anyone who uses the binary. However, most of the time anyone in the general public could be a user, but that's not assured.

    http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/gpl-faq.html #GPLRequireSourcePostedPublic>
    and
    http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/gpl-faq.html #WhatDoesWrittenOfferValid>