CopperheadOS Fights Unlicensed Installations On Nexus Phones (xda-developers.com)

An anonymous reader writes: Earlier this week security-hardened Android build CopperheadOS temporarily blocked Nexus updates on its servers after finding out that other companies have been flashing the ROM onto Nexus phones and selling them commercially in violation of the CopperheadOS licensing terms. The incident highlights an inherent problem in getting open source to be used by the masses: the difficulty of organizations being able to build and monetize a successful, long-term open source business model...
"We've enabled over-the-air updates again," CopperheadOS tweeted Saturday, "to avoid impacting our remaining customers on Nexus devices and other legitimate users. However, downloads on the site will no longer be available and we'll be making changes to the update client for Nexus devices."

In an earlier series of tweets, they explained it's an ongoing issue. "It's not okay to disrespect our non-commercial licensing terms for those official builds by flashing and selling it on hundreds of phones... This is why we've been unable to sell access to Pixel images. There are people that are going to buy those and flash + sell devices in direct competition with us in violation of the licensing terms. Needing to deal with so many people acting in bad faith makes this difficult.

"It's not permitted for our official Nexus builds and yet that's what's happening. We do all of the development, testing, release engineering and we provide the infrastructure, and then competitors sell far more devices than us in violation of our licensing terms. Ridiculous."

Comments

Not sure they understand licensing

[Luthair]

If you look at their github account they've dropped their license into clones of Google's Android repositories. Even if you're adding commits you don't get to re-license the code.

Re: Not sure they understand licensing

[Anonymous Coward]

They may no understand licensing, but they (the people behind CopperheadOS) also don't understand hypocrisy.

CopperheadOS is based on Android (which they didn't create), which itself is based on the Linux kernel (which they also didn't create). They are perfectly happy to take the work of others and use it for their own benefit, but when someone else does that to THEM . . . . .ZOMG!!! IT'S TERRIBLE!! WE CANNOT ALLOW THIS!!!

STFU.

Re: Not sure they understand licensing

[Anonymous Coward]

No. That's likely incorrect.

The Linux kernel is released under the GPLv2, but the rest of Android is released under the Apache License. The Apache License is permissive. It's not a copyleft license. Apache-licensed software can be relicensed.

The GPL only applies to the Linux kernel. The GPL requires that users who have received a copy of the software binaries must be allowed to receive a copy of the source code. GPL software can be sold and the license makes no restrictions on the price. The vendor is only obligated to provide copies of the source code on request to those who have received the binaries. The code doesn't have to be posted online, either. It is permitted to mail out copies of the source code upon request rather than making it available online. Furthermore, the GPL even allows the vendor to charge for the costs of the medium (like a DVD) and the postage. This obligation is for up to three years. There is a lot of flexibility allowed for complying with the GPL.

Those who receive the source code must be free to modify and redistribute the source code, with the requirement that it is distributed under the GPL.

There's actually a lot of flexibility about how to comply with the GPL, and it only applies to the Linux kernel because the rest of Android is licensed under the Apache License.