SFC: John Deere's ongoing GPL violations: What's next
This is a serious issue that goes far beyond one person wanting to fix their printer software, or install an alternative firmware on a luxury device. It has far-reaching implications for all farmers' livelihoods, for food security throughout the world, and for how we as a society choose to reward those who make our lives better, or stand in the way of empowering everyone to improve the world.
Posted Mar 16, 2023 17:01 UTC (Thu)
by Funcan (guest, #44209)
[Link] (11 responses)
Posted Mar 16, 2023 17:18 UTC (Thu)
by paulj (subscriber, #341)
[Link]
Posted Mar 16, 2023 22:16 UTC (Thu)
by faramir (subscriber, #2327)
[Link] (9 responses)
The Vizio case mentioned by another poster, is an attempt at legal action without copyright owner involvement based on the GPL being a contract that individuals can sue for enforcement without developer involvement in the case (i.e. end users have enforceable rights as well as developers). Or at least that is my understanding of the Vizio case.
Posted Mar 17, 2023 5:23 UTC (Fri)
by iabervon (subscriber, #722)
[Link] (8 responses)
On the other hand, they may be more likely to take offense if they see end users of their code actively harmed by a company not following the license. So I can see this callout as the SFC trying to build consensus around this being an important cause that holders of copyrights on GPLed projects can support, where there's a possible legal remedy they may care about.
Posted Mar 17, 2023 6:17 UTC (Fri)
by LtWorf (subscriber, #124958)
[Link] (3 responses)
I've never used a permissive license when I've had my say. I would totally feel personally harmed should I find out a company is violating the license.
Posted Mar 18, 2023 19:49 UTC (Sat)
by mmaug (subscriber, #61003)
[Link] (2 responses)
I CHOOSE a copyleft license so that my efforts cannot be hidden nor stolen by those interested in making money rather than enhancing the collective knowledge.
Posted Mar 23, 2023 11:22 UTC (Thu)
by kpfleming (subscriber, #23250)
[Link] (1 responses)
Posted Mar 23, 2023 14:18 UTC (Thu)
by LtWorf (subscriber, #124958)
[Link]
Of course you can, but hopefully the disincentives are sufficient.
Posted Mar 19, 2023 9:56 UTC (Sun)
by ksandstr (guest, #60862)
[Link] (3 responses)
There's an ugly name for those who argue about the intent of others contrary to said others' concrete actions. I read this comment as "go ahead and walk right over Them Nerds, they're just playing coy", and if a different meaning was intended then it wasn't adequately communicated.
The choice between the GNU General Public License's second and third versions, use of the "or later" clause, and any other mode of licensing, has been thoroughly discussed online and elsewhere over the past generation of man, is well understood, and represents the copyright owner's definite and unambiguous will. Disregard for this intent can only have risen out of the same wastebucket as Internet-persistent fantasies about the GPL being "untested in court" and therefore subject to such invalidation that wouldn't leave the exploiter facing a sentence for criminal copyright infringement.
It's a crying shame that today the GPL isn't being enforced with a singular firm request first and the nuclear option an immediate second. A corporation -- such as John Deere in the context of the SFC's case here -- recognizes nothing as it does a direct effect on its bottom line; and as is apparent from their non-compliance thusfar, anything but the maximum iron fist will yield no result.
Posted Mar 21, 2023 15:56 UTC (Tue)
by NYKevin (subscriber, #129325)
[Link] (2 responses)
1. Violating the copyright license is wrong, and also illegal.
(1) is a normative statement, (2) is a factual statement. Both can be true at the same time.
Posted Mar 21, 2023 16:48 UTC (Tue)
by pizza (subscriber, #46)
[Link] (1 responses)
There's also 2a, "Of those that care about (1), very few have the resources (or sufficient standing, see the VMware debacle) to file a lawsuit and see it through.
Posted Mar 22, 2023 13:09 UTC (Wed)
by SKodai (guest, #153476)
[Link]
If FSF and SFC aren't interested in starting this fight, they should at least team up with Louis Rossmann's effort.
Posted Mar 16, 2023 20:19 UTC (Thu)
by atai (subscriber, #10977)
[Link] (1 responses)
Posted Mar 17, 2023 0:52 UTC (Fri)
by pabs (subscriber, #43278)
[Link]
The most recent win was the remand of the case back to state court:
https://sfconservancy.org/news/2022/may/16/vizio-remand-win/
SFC: John Deere's ongoing GPL violations: What's next
SFC: John Deere's ongoing GPL violations: What's next
SFC: John Deere's ongoing GPL violations: What's next
SFC: John Deere's ongoing GPL violations: What's next
SFC: John Deere's ongoing GPL violations: What's next
SFC: John Deere's ongoing GPL violations: What's next
SFC: John Deere's ongoing GPL violations: What's next
SFC: John Deere's ongoing GPL violations: What's next
SFC: John Deere's ongoing GPL violations: What's next
SFC: John Deere's ongoing GPL violations: What's next
2. Not all developers care about (1) enough to actually file a lawsuit (if they did, we wouldn't be having this conversation).
SFC: John Deere's ongoing GPL violations: What's next
SFC: John Deere's ongoing GPL violations: What's next
SFC: John Deere's ongoing GPL violations: What's next
SFC: John Deere's ongoing GPL violations: What's next
