FTF and gpl-violations release a guide to reporting and fixing licence violations
2008-12-08, Zürich, Graeme West, FSFE
FSFE's Freedom Task Force (FTF) and GPL-Violations.org today released a guide to reporting and fixing licence compliance issues.
This guide will help users and developers to deal with license violation reports. It explains how to make a report, what information is useful to include, and offers suggestions for how projects or businesses can deal with reports once they are received.
The guide is released as part of the strategic partnership between the FTF and GPL-Violations.org, who work together to improve licensing awareness and compliance in Europe. It is located on the new FTF website, http://www.fsfeurope.org/ftf, along with information on how projects and businesses can get help with understanding Free Software licences. Translations into several European languages will be made available during coming weeks from the FTF website.
"The best way to solve compliance issues is to prevent them happening in the first place", says Shane Coughlan, FTF Coordinator. "We work to support this by educating the community at large. When problems do occur, we want people to be able to share information and resolve them effectively."
About the Freedom Task Force:
The Freedom Task Force is a project run by Free Software Foundation Europe to help people understand Free Software licensing and the opportunities it presents. We offer educational services, facilitate larger infrastructure activities and manage FSFE's legal affairs. Our goals are to share knowledge about Free Software law, to safeguard the interests of Free Software projects, to connect experts in this field and to help other groups achieve similar goals. We believe in positive, constructive dialogue and seek at all times to support the long-term sustainability of Free Software.</p>
The FTF's homepage can be found at http://www.fsfeurope.org/ftf You can contact us via email: ftf @ fsfeurope.org
You can phone us at: Belgium: +32 2 747 03 57 Ext. 22 Germany: +49 700 373 38 76 73 Ext. 22 Sweden: +46 31 7802160 Ext. 22 Switzerland: +41 43 500 03 66 Ext. 22 UK: +44 29 200 08 17 7 Ext. 22
Press contact: Shane Coughlan, FTF Coordinator, FSFE extension: 408
About gpl-violations.org:
In the past 40 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
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.
FSFE's homepage can be found at http://www.fsfeurope.org
You can reach the FSFE switchboard from: Belgium: +32 2 747 03 57 Germany: +49 700 373 38 76 73 Sweden: +46 31 7802160 Switzerland: +41 43 500 03 66 UK: +44 29 200 08 17 7
Further information: http://www.fsfeurope.org