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@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