Why doesn't VIZIO just comply?

Posted Jan 14, 2026 15:42 UTC (Wed) by nim-nim (subscriber, #34454)
In reply to: Why doesn't VIZIO just comply? by IanKelling
Parent article: SFC v. VIZIO: who can enforce the GPL?

They suck and they know they suck and they do not have the faintest idea on the amount of effort it would take to comply and they do not want to in the first place and they despise the SFC.

Do not underestimate the amount of company money an executive is ready to burn to avoid complying with “external” demands. These guys are used to lick the boots of the shareholders and despise everyone else. Companies make expensive mistakes all the time just because being smart conflicted with some manager’s idea of the pecking order.

to post comments

Why doesn't VIZIO just comply?

Posted Jan 14, 2026 16:56 UTC (Wed) by marcH (subscriber, #57642) [Link] (4 responses)

In the short term yes, very likely.

After many years of legal struggles reported in the media, things start being different. Shareholders read the news too, even the least competent ones.

Why doesn't VIZIO just comply?

Posted Jan 14, 2026 20:16 UTC (Wed) by IanKelling (subscriber, #89418) [Link] (2 responses)

> Shareholders read the news too

There are no shareholders of Vizio. LWN is doing a favor to Walmart and arguably it's readers by still referring to the historical company named Vizio, but it isn't accurate and I personally don't appreciate it. The entire article should be s/Vizio/Walmart/.

Company names

Posted Jan 14, 2026 20:22 UTC (Wed) by corbet (editor, #1) [Link] (1 responses)

We used the same name as appears in the court filings, including in the SFC's complaint. To have done anything else would have been confusing at best. I don't quite see how Walmart would benefit from this..?

Company names

Posted Jan 15, 2026 7:40 UTC (Thu) by IanKelling (subscriber, #89418) [Link]

> I don't quite see how Walmart would benefit from this..?

Vizio is just a brand name owned by Walmart now. There are 1000 reasons Walmart wouldn't want to be known as the one funding this lawsuit. Remember that Microsoft funded SCO lawsuits and then they put out an ad campaign about how they <3 Linux? Don't be dense.

Why doesn't VIZIO just comply?

Posted Jan 15, 2026 14:28 UTC (Thu) by nim-nim (subscriber, #34454) [Link]

After many years your are squarely in sunk cost fallacy land. The sunk cost being not company money (executives do not care) but the reputation of all the managers that let it degenerate into trial instead of complying with the license.