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First US GPL Lawsuit Heads For Quick Settlement

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the owning-up-shows-character dept.

DeviceGuru writes to tell us that the first lawsuit centered around the GPL seems to have been quickly resolved outside of the courtroom. Monsoon Multimedia was quick to admit that they had violated the GPLv2 in their modified BusyBox code and will soon be releasing the source to come into full compliance with the license.

6 of 196 comments (clear)

  1. Aha! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    1. Violate GPL
    2. Get sued and get massive publicity for your little device that's actually kinda cool, then settle
    3. Profit!

  2. Nice to see a company admit it's mistake by he1icine · · Score: 5, Insightful

    While it would have been better had they not violated the GPL in the first place, but it is nice to see that Monsoon is able to admit their mistake and release the code according to the license. Too bad most companies are happy to fight it out in the courtrooms forever, or pay people off, than to stand up and admit when they were wrong.

    --
    Ignorance is the Agent of Fear; Fear Is the Agent of Violence - >1
    1. Re:Nice to see a company admit it's mistake by nomadic · · Score: 5, Insightful

      IANAL, but wouldn't it have been better if a judge actually ruled against them (Monsoon), setting a precedent to be used in future GPL violation cases?

      Better for whom? The attorneys in the case represent their respective clients, not the public interest at large. If they see a way to get a good result for their clients, they are ethically obligated to pursue it, even if in the long run someone else down the road has a harder time of it.

  3. Re:all's fair in law and war by Daimanta · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Number one, there's no mention of any cash payout Why do there always have to be (punitive) damages paid? They lost and they will now comply. FOSS has won. No revenge. Case closed.
    --
    Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power lost.
  4. Re:all's fair in law and war by kebes · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Number one, there's no mention of any cash payout
    In various talks I've heard, Eben Moglen (legal counsel for the FSF) repeatedly states that it should be the policy of the free software community to give ample opportunities for infringers to "do the right thing."

    He emphasizes that the objective is for the software to end up free, not to extract revenge, or get extra money. As such, the message we must send is "do the right thing," and not "pay for your crime." He says that this strategy has worked remarkably well: most GPL infringements never make it anywhere near a courtroom: a couple of friendly phone calls and the situation is resolved.

    Frankly I think this "don't be a jerk" tactic is something we should encourage everywhere, not just in the FOSS community. In any case, the somewhat more even-handed approach to infringements helps to not scare away potential users of GPL software and code (e.g. corporations). The message they get is: "play by the rules... but if you make a mistake, don't worry: we'll send you a friendly reminder before taking any harsh action."
  5. GPL Will Never Be Chalenged by EEPROMS · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The reason why no sane company will challenge the GPL is very simple, even if you win you lose. As soon as you have removed the GPL hurdle you then have the nightmare of copyright law to face. The GPL does not remove copyright its a usage agreement, so if the "agreement " is annulled in court then the code falls under well tested copyright law and thats even worse to deal with.