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The GPL has been used successfully in courts of law. It’s not common as most violators just open source when called out, or settle when sued, but it has worked
by colejohnson66 6y ago
The GPL has been used successfully in courts of law. It’s not common as most violators just open source when called out, or settle when sued, but it has worked before. A famous example is D-Link using the Linux kernel in their routers. After a lawsuit in Germany, D-Link had to release their changes.[0]
I don’t understand this idea that a license that the author willingly released his code under is unenforceable, but EULAs are?
[0]: https://web.archive.org/web/20141007073104/http://gpl-violations.org/news/20060922-dlink-judgement_frankfurt.html https://web.archive.org/web/20141007073104/http://gpl-violat...
- tracker1 6y agoOf course with all/most US routers generally taking only signed ROMs, it's mostly useless to even have the code. I wish they'd just create something closer to tomato than the flashy, less useful interfaces.
- colejohnson66 6y agoThat problem is called TiVoization. It’s addressed with the 3rd version of the GPL. Sadly, Linus is adamantly against that clause.
- chii 6y ago> Linus is adamantly against that clause. oh i didnt know he was adamant against the clause - i thought that he didn't want to force it upon the many existing users of linux.
- colejohnson66 6y agohttps://youtube.com/watch?v=PaKIZ7gJlRU https://youtube.com/watch?v=PaKIZ7gJlRU He also has refused to release any of his projects under GPLv3 (or even “v2 or later”).
- kasabali 6y agoWhich is too bad because CDDL is compatible with GPLv3 thus that would make integration of ZFS possible
- tracker1 6y agoUnfortunately, it's come out from the FCC, not just the hardware companies in this case, and it really sucks... Raally need to drain the swamp in the FCC.