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Friendlier GPL-Enforcement Permission Proposed By Linux Kernel Developers (kroah.com)

Posted by EditorDavid on from the pull-request dept.

The former Executive Director of the Free Software Foundation -- and Slashdot user #41121 -- contacted Slashdot with this announcement. bkuhn -- now president of the Software Freedom Conservancy -- writes: Software Freedom Conservancy, home of the GPL Compliance Project for Linux Developers, publicly applauded today the proposal of the Linux Kernel Enforcement Statement, which adds a per-copyright-holder-opt-in additional permission to the termination provisions of Linux's GPLv2-only license.
It apparently addresses a developer who "made claims based on ambiguities in the GPL-2.0 that no one in our community has ever considered part of compliance," according to a statement from some of the kernel developers who drafted the statement. While the kernel community has always supported enforcement efforts to bring companies into compliance, we have never even considered enforcement for the purpose of extracting monetary gain... [W]e are aware of activity that has resulted in payments of at least a few million Euros. We are also aware that these actions, which have continued for at least four years, have threatened the confidence in our ecosystem. Because of this, and to help clarify what the majority of Linux kernel community members feel is the correct way to enforce our license, the Technical Advisory Board of the Linux Foundation has worked together with lawyers in our community, individual developers, and many companies that participate in the development of, and rely on Linux, to draft a Kernel Enforcement Statement to help address both this specific issue we are facing today, and to help prevent any future issues like this from happening again. It adopts the same termination provisions we are all familiar with from GPL-3.0 as an Additional Permission giving companies confidence that they will have time to come into compliance if a failure is identified.

8 of 94 comments (clear)

  1. Monetary gain by PPH · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Fines and penalties aren't always about pure monetary gain. They are a means of punishment for wrongdoing and a way to dissuade others from engaging in the same behavior. Absent payment as a penalty, I suppose we could take the board of directors of a company found in violation of the GPL and have them shot.

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
    1. Re:Monetary gain by jonsmirl · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It is a matter of degree. Making a business of copyright violation should be quickly shut down and punished by the legal system. Individuals violating copyright is a business model problem and should be addressed by providing the copyright materials to the individuals in a form that they will accept - such as streaming music and Netflix.

      It is simple to comply with the GPL if you want to. It is another level to willfully disregard it and make a business around that disregard. So it is fine with me to give a grace period to come into compliance, but then if you choose not to comply either honor the terms and lose your license or else face the legal consequences.

  2. MPAA's personal touch by OrangeTide · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I think as Linux kernel developers we should take note of the very personal touch the MPAA has used to deal with violators: An early morning visit by a paramilitary police force.

    --
    “Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
  3. GPL is about user freedom by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Copyright law says you can't make copies for another without permission.

    The BSD license grants an exception to copyright, (like all distribution licenses for copyrighted works,) which lets you copy it, but also lets you take away that permission from whoever you distribute the software too.

    The GPL license also grants an exception to copyright, but says you can't take it away from whoever you distribute the software too. In other words, they get the same right to run, modify, and distribute the software as the licensed work you based your changes upon.

    1. Re:GPL is about user freedom by ChatHuant · · Score: 3

      The BSD license grants an exception to copyright, (like all distribution licenses for copyrighted works,) which lets you copy it, but also lets you take away that permission from whoever you distribute the software too.

      I keep hearing this flawed argument every time this particular discussion comes around (every Saturday, it seems like). It surprises me people still fall for it. It's a fallacy, based on confusion between the code developed by the original publisher and the code developed by other people.
       
      If party A releases some code under the BSD licence, party B can't take away party C's permission to use A's code. B has the freedom to distribute his code under any licence he feels like, but can't infringe C's freedom to use A's code any way C likes. By contrast, the GPL removes B's right to release his own code under whatever licence works best for him. Ironically, this restriction of B's rights is called "freedom" by GPL supporters, and the BSD licence that allows all rights *to A's code* is called "less free" than the GPL that allows fewer rights.

    2. Re:GPL is about user freedom by mfnickster · · Score: 3, Interesting

      You sound like you've done your homework, so I have to give you credit for that.

      However, you are mistaken when you say GPL removes B's right to distribute his own code - provided that code constitutes a derivative work, B never had the right to choose licensing for it. That stems from copyright law: the original author sets the terms for derivative works.

      --
      "Slow down, Cowboy! It has been 3 years, 7 months and 26 days since you last successfully posted a comment."
  4. Re:I used to like the GPL by vux984 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    but switched over to be more in favour of the BSD/ISC/MIT licences because they are maximally free.

    I take exception to that. The BSD and GPL are equally free, but they split on whom gets that freedom; one gives an extra freedom to the immediate developer to change the licensing, one gives extra freedom to the downstream developer by propagating all the freedoms onto to them.

    Most people using BSD 'derived' code have none of the freedoms BSD offers. How exactly do you argue with a straight face that this is the better outcome?

    More and more, academics are releasing their code under the BSD/ISC licences because they realise that because they are receiving public money to fund their code and research, by dint of this, they must release the results of that money to the public in a maximally free way,

    That amounts to the public paying for all the bakeries ingredients, and then the bakery sells bread back to the public. Yes, that's a pretty ideal system for the baker; not such a good deal for the public though. Why are they funding the baker's ingredients exactly?

    If it were the GPL the baker would also have to share how the bread is made, and people wouldn't have to depend on him if they wanted to make their own bread. (This, according to you is the 'less free' option.)

    Small wonder the baker prefers the BSD.

    Some code needs to be proprietary--life is about pragmatism sometimes, not always about ideology.

    IF you ever bother to ask yourself why, and really dig deep, you'll have a tough time coming up with a satisfactory answer.

    Note that I don't contend the pragmatic arguments aren't real, just that they are deeply unsatisfying on a philosophical level. They point to difficult to solve problems with society itself, and rather than solve these difficult problems, the pragmatist just accepts them as unsolved and proceeds to go for lunch. That's not much of a solution.

  5. Background: McHardy enforcing the GPL in Germany by spth · · Score: 4, Informative

    Apparently, a few years ago, some Linux developer named McHardy started enforcing the GPL in Germany on his own. See e.g. the background article at https://sfconservancy.org/blog...

    It looks like he tends to sue GPL-violators for about 2000€ + his costs (attorny fees for trying to settle out of court, costs for reverse engineering):

    Example where he successfully sued the Germany subsidy of a Taiwanese hardware manufacturer for a total of about 2900€: LG Frankfurt, 2-6 O 224/06 http://www.jbb.de/fileadmin/do...

    However, there was also a case where he demanded and got more: A GPL-violator that he had contacted in 2010, and got to comply with the GPL out of court back then became a repeat offender in 2012. He sued them for for 5000€ + attorny fees of 2000€: LG Hamburg, 308 O 10/13 http://www.damm-it-recht.de/lg...

    On the other hand, most Linux developers apparently think that free software developers and organizations tasked with GPL enforcement should not profit from suing GPL violators. The Software Freedom Conservancy is losing money from enforcing the GPL, and asks for donations to be able to continue their work.

    Philipp