The FSF GPL Compliance Lab

The Free Software Foundation has sent out a press release proclaiming the receipt of a $25,000 donation from MySQL AB. The donation is intended to support the FSF's GPL Compliance Lab. The donation is a good thing, even if it can be seen as a relatively straightforward payback for the FSF's assistance in MySQL's (just settled) lawsuit against NuSphere. But the PR is also interesting in that it is the first public mention we could find of the "GPL Compliance Lab." So we contacted the FSF to learn a little more about it.

The Lab, as it turns out, has existed as an "informal activity" since 1992; it was formalized toward the end of 2001. According to FSF Executive Director Bradley Kuhn:

The Lab's staff includes, beyond a piece of Mr. Kuhn's time to run the whole thing, a "GPL Compliance Engineer" who investigates GPL issues, a half-time clerk to handle copyright assignments, and two lawyers who donate a few hours a week to the project. According to Mr. Kuhn, the demand for the lab's services could easily employ twice as many people; in particular, more lawyer time is needed. But, since the FSF lacks the funds to actually hire a lawyer, it is entirely dependent on pro bono work.

The Lab's staff works on a number of tasks, including the investigation of GPL violations, "diplomatically" working with violators to bring them back into line, helping others (like MySQL) in GPL enforcement efforts, GPL education efforts, and developing new versions of free software licenses. They currently handle about 50 violations every year; most of these are indeed handled with certain amount of diplomacy, since the world as a whole never hears about them. This is certainly the right approach, since, as Mr. Kuhn points out, almost all GPL violations are mistakes, rather than malicious misuses of GPL-licensed code. A quiet approach gets these violations taken care of without backing the violator into a defensive corner.

So why have most of us never heard of the Lab? The answer is resource constraints: the FSF is not exactly overflowing with funds, and has never been able to find the time to set up its own web site. The FSF is not the same thing as the GNU project; while the GNU folks are busy writing software and trying to get past that pesky HURD 2GB filesystem limit, the FSF is working on the broader free software picture. And it is doing so on a shoestring budget.

Bradley Kuhn is hoping that other companies will take a cue from MySQL and make donations to help the GPL compliance effort. He tells us:

He also states that companies which have violated the GPL and been brought back into line by the FSF should donate as well; that seems like a rather harder sell.

There is a serious point here, however. Companies that release code under the GPL do so in the hope that their competitors will not take unfair advantage of that code and distribute proprietary enhancements. As the free software ecosystem grows, an increasing number of companies will surely be tempted to do exactly that. Preventing this sort of behavior requires vigorous enforcement of the GPL's requirements. And that enforcement requires lawyers.

The FSF has been the champion of the GPL since the beginning, and is an obvious focal point for GPL enforcement efforts. But they need a level of funding that allows them to carry out that work. A donations page exists for individuals wanting to help out, and companies with bigger checks will certainly get their phone calls returned quickly. But the FSF may want to consider creating consulting and enforcement services that can be sold to companies that depend on respect for the terms of the GPL. Otherwise, as the market grows, somebody else will.

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