GPL Lawsuit May Not Settle

A number of readers wrote in to inform us that contrary to earlier indications, it's no sure thing that the lawsuit alleging GPL violation by Monsoon Multimedia will get settled out of court. Linux.com now reports that the SFLC's legal director Daniel Ravicher has stressed that no agreement has been reached: "Simply coming into compliance now is not sufficient to settle the matter, because that would mean anyone can violate the license until caught, because the only punishment would be to come into compliance." (Linux.com and Slashdot are both part of Sourceforge, Inc.)

Comments

Long run

[Enderandrew]

On principle I agree we should deter people from violating licenses, but which is more detrimental in the long run?

Will this scare pointy-haired-bosses away from OSS if they think touching the GPL may involve a law-suit? For many people, they don't understand the intricacies of software licenses. If Monsoon showed malice, and very much knowingly were trying to screw people, then yes, punish them. However, many people have been slow to release their changes to source code, and instead of scaring everyone off the GPL, I'm generally content to see people continue to use OSS and comply with the license.

please dont settle

[talledega500]

So that we can see the GPL and all open source licenses proven unenforceable in one fell swoop!