Press-release July 2007

press-release@lists.fsfe.org

1 participants
3 discussions

FSFE offers to help companies adhere to Free Software licence terms
by Joachim Jakobs 27 Jul '07

27 Jul '07

FSFE offers to help companies adhere to Free Software licence terms The terms of the GNU GPL licence have been confirmed as binding once again, with a German court ruling that Skype was failing to uphold its obligations as a distributor. FSFE wants to help other vendors understand their GNU GPL obligations. Harald Welte of gpl-violations.org took Skype to court in Munich, Germany, regarding misuse of GNU GPL code he wrote for the Netfilter component of the Linux kernel. This is the first time a non-German company has been convicted for GNU GPL licence violations, though the gpl-violations.org project has reached numerous out of court settlements with various vendors in the past. Skype had been selling the SMC WSKP100 VoIP telephone without providing either source code or a written offer for the source code with the product itself. Though Skype later included a supplementary text to the product which referred to the use of GPL software and contained URLs to source code downloads, this also failed to meet the terms contained in the GNU GPL licence. The ruling of the German court in favour of Harald Welte is welcomed by FSFE. "Adhering to the terms of the GNU GPL is not difficult, and this case re-emphasises the importance of doing so, " says Shane Coughlan, Freedom Task Force coordinator at FSFE. "Skype did not recognise this and unfortunately had to be reminded of their obligations in a court of law. While many vendors are working pro-actively to resolve licensing issues, problems remain in the European market place. We would like to see them resolved as quickly and as amicably as possible." "The main focus of the gpl-violations.org project is to fix problems vendors have with shipping products that contain GNU GPL code," says Armijn Hemel, an engineer at the gpl-violations.org project. "We want to work with vendors to implement long-term solutions to compliance issues. It is our wish to ensure everyone operates according to the same terms and rules, as decided by the authors of the code in question." There are several ways that companies distributing GNU GPL code in Europe can get help and advice. Armijn Hemel, an engineer at the gpl-violations.org project, offers compliance services for embedded devices. FSFE's Freedom Task Force has also recently launched professional consultancy services for businesses making use of Free Software in their products. "There are avenues of information and advice for businesses using Free Software," says Shane Coughlan. "One of the purposes of the FTF is to help companies avoid costly mistakes. Where the FTF can help people, we will. If we don't have the answers in-house we will help guide people to the external information or expertise they need. The one thing I would like to stress is that businesses should not and cannot ignore these issues." The Freedom Task Force can be found at http://www.fsfeurope.org/ftf The Freedom Task Force can be emailed at ftf(a)fsfeurope.org About the Free Software Foundation Europe: The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) is a non-profit non-governmental organisation active in many European countries and involved in many global activities. Access to software determines participation in a digital society. To secure equal participation in the information age, as well as freedom of competition, the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) pursues and is dedicated to the furthering of Free Software, defined by the freedoms to use, study, modify and copy. Founded in 2001, creating awareness for these issues, securing Free Software politically and legally, and giving people Freedom by supporting development of Free Software are central issues of the FSFE. About gpl-violations.org: In the past 30 months, gpl-violations.org has helped uncover and negotiate more than 100 GPL violations and has obtained numerous out-of-court settlement agreements. The gpl-violations.org project is a not-for-profit effort to bring commercial users and vendors of Free Software into compliance with the licence conditions as set forth by the original authors. The project was founded and is managed by Mr. Harald Welte, a Linux Kernel developer and Free Software enthusiast. For more information on the project, its mission, milestones and goals, please see http://gpl-violations.org Contact: You can reach the FSFE switchboard from: Belgium: +32 2 747 03 57 ext 408 Germany: +49 700 373 38 76 73 ext 408 Sweden: +46 31 7802160 ext 408 Switzerland: +41 43 500 03 66 ext 408 UK: +44 29 200 08 17 7 ext 408 Shane Coughlan, FTF Co-ordinator, FSFE extension: 408 Joachim Jakobs, Media Relations, FSFE extension: 404 mobile: +49-179-6919565 Further information: http://fsfeurope.org

1 0

FSFE Newsletter
by Free Software Foundation Europe 12 Jul '07

12 Jul '07

1. FSFE's General Assembly and the first Benelux fellowship meeting 2. GPLv3 and LGPLv3 have been released 3. Free Software personal consultancy for businesses 4. Six questions to national standardisation bodies 5. Georg Greve in India 6. FTF useful tips translated to Asian languages 7. Free Software in Austrian Schools 8. Get your friends to support the Fellowship and FSFE 1. FSFE's General Assembly and the first Benelux fellowship meeting The first Benelux meeting of the Fellowship took place on Thursday the 28th of June in Brussels and provided an excellent opportunity for the local fellows to get to know each other. Two days later the General Assembly of FSFE met at FSFE's Brussels office for a productive discussion about the foundation's past work and future direction. Georg Greve was re-elected as president and Jonas Oberg as vice-president of FSFE, with Reinhard Muller elected as the Head of Office. The executive summary for the last two years of FSFE's work can be found on-line here http://fsfeurope.org/documents/reports/es-2007 2. GPLv3 and LGPLv3 have been released The final text of both the GNU GPL version 3 and the GNU LGPL version 3 licences were released on the 29th of June 2007. The GPLv3 is the result of eighteen months of drafting, a process which included four published drafts and thousands of comments from interested parties. http://fsfeurope.org/projects/gplv3/ http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.html http://www.gnu.org/licenses/lgpl-3.0.html 3. Free Software personal consultancy for businesses FSFE has always helped the community through providing pro bono advice, and through this we have discovered that businesses often require additional personal assistance. For this reason, FSFE is offering businesses a chance to get individual consultancy regarding Free Software issues at its Zurich, Switzerland office. Shane Coughlan, FTF coordinator, will be available for reserved sessions starting from July 13th. The sessions cost 150 Euro per hour, with a special discounted rate of 100 Euro for companies that have fellowship members among their employees. The FTF can also organise and hold in-house training sessions and workshop on Free Software licensing. By making use of this service, companies will also help to sustain FSFE's continuing community work. http://fsfeurope.org/ftf 4. Six questions to national standardisation bodies Microsoft very actively seeking ISO approval as an Open Standard for their proprietary MS-OOXML format. Should ISO approve this format as a standard, Free Software may find itself locked out of the office application and collaboration market and the barriers to Free Software adoption will increase. FSFE president Georg Greve spoke about the necessity and value of interoperability at the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in Calcutta. In order to help people understand the issue, FSFE also published six questions that every national standardisation body should have good answers to if it wants to approve Microsoft's application. Read more and help us spread the word at http://fsfeurope.org/documents/msooxml-questions 5. Georg Greve in India In cooperation with FSFE's sister organisation, the Free Software Foundation India (FSF India), FSFE president Georg Greve visited the Indian subcontinend and gave speeches in Mumbai, Calcutta and Trivandrum at institutions like the Tata Institute for Fundamental Research (TIFR) or the Technopark in Trivandrum, the first of its kind in India. You can read more about the trip and some truly exciting things about Free Software accessibility for the visually impaired at http://www.fsfe.org/fellows/greve/freedom_bits/last_night_in_india http://www.fsfe.org/fellows/greve/freedom_bits/back_from_india 6. FTF useful tips translated to Asian languages FSFE's Freedom Task Force is proud to announce that the useful tips for users and vendors of GNU GPL version 2 software are now available in Korean and Traditional Chinese. These documents are intended to help users and vendors think about licence compliance and to guide people to authoritative sources of information on the Internet. By making these documents available in more languages the FTF aims to continue building productive infrastructure for Free Software in Europe and beyond. Useful tips for users: http://fsfeurope.org/projects/ftf/useful-tips-for-users_ko.pdf http://fsfeurope.org/projects/ftf/useful-tips-for-users_zh_tw.pdf Useful tips for vendors: http://fsfeurope.org/projects/ftf/useful-tips-for-vendors_ko.pdf http://fsfeurope.org/projects/ftf/useful-tips-for-vendors_zh_tw.pdf 7. Free Software in Austrian Schools During the monthly meetings of the Fellowship in Austria, a constant topic was the importance of Free Software in education to give the next generation the freedom to become an active part of society. Some committed Fellows carried this message into schools and as a result of the initiative of two teachers, the "BG Rechte Kremszeile" in Krems decided to switch the whole school to exclusively Free Software with the start of the next school year. The Free Software Foundation Europe congratulates the school on their decision and encourages others to follow the example. Our thanks go to the Fellows involved in this initiative. 8. Get your friends to support the Fellowship and FSFE FSFE's Fellowship is a community of people united by their interest in Free Software and freedom in all aspects of the digital age and FSFE is dedicated to supporting all aspects of Free Software in Europe. Please tell your friends and collegues about the Fellowship and FSFE. Their help and support would be invaluable in helping us to accomplish our goals across Europe. Join the fellowship https://fsfe.org/en/fsfeuser/register Donate to FSFE http://fsfeurope.org/help/donate-2002.en.html Volunteer time and energy http://fsfeurope.org/help/help.en.html You can find a list of all FSFE newsletters on http://www.fsfeurope.org/news/newsletter.en.html

1 0

FSFE offers Free Software personal assistance for businesses
by Joachim Jakobs 11 Jul '07

11 Jul '07

FSFE offers Free Software personal assistance for businesses Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) has always helped the community through providing pro bono advice, and through this has discovered that businesses often require additional personal assistance. For this reason, FSFE is offering businesses a chance to get individual consultancy regarding Free Software issues at its Zurich, Switzerland office. Shane Coughlan, FTF coordinator, will be available for reserved sessions starting from July 13th. The sessions cost 150 Euro per hour, with a special discounted rate of 100 Euro for companies that have Fellowship members among their employees. The FTF can also organise and hold in-house training sessions and workshop on Free Software licensing. "We started the FTF so individuals, projects and businesses could get high quality information and expertise when required," says Georg Greve, President of FSFE. "Most of that work is pro bono and done to support the growth of the Free Software community, but that has various limits. This new service specifically targets companies that want to obtain personal assistance from a known and trusted community organisation. It's also worth pointing out that by making use of this service, companies will help to sustain FSFE's continuing pro bono community work." The FTF will continue to provide education, compliance assistance and fiduciary services to individuals, projects and businesses as before. "Individual consultancy is not a replacement for any of our existing work," says Shane Coughlan, FTF coordinator. "It's an additional service to complement it and to help bring us a little closer to Free Software legal infrastruture in Europe that can provide solutions to anyone no matter how large or small their requirements." About the Free Software Foundation Europe: The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) is a non-profit non-governmental organisation active in many European countries and involved in many global activities. Access to software determines participation in a digital society. To secure equal participation in the information age, as well as freedom of competition, the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) pursues and is dedicated to the furthering of Free Software, defined by the freedoms to use, study, modify and copy. Founded in 2001, creating awareness for these issues, securing Free Software politically and legally, and giving people Freedom by supporting development of Free Software are central issues of the FSFE.

1 0

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

2004

2003

2002

2001

Press-release July 2007