Enforcing the GNU GPL - Copyright helps Copyleft

More and more vendors of various computing devices, especially network-related
appliances such as Routers, NAT-Gateways and Wireless Access Points are using
Linux and other GPL licensed Free Software in their products.

While the Linux community can look at this as a big success, there is a back
side of that coin:  A large number of those vendors have no idea about the GPL
license terms, and as a result do not fulfill their obligations under the GPL.

The netfilter/iptables project has started legal proceedngs against a number of
companies in violation of the GPL since December 2003.  Those legal proceedings
were quite successful so far, resulting in twelve amicable agreements, two
granted preliminary injunctions and one court order.  The list of companies
includes large international corporations such as Siemens, Deutsche Telekom,
Hitachi, Asus and Belkin.

The speaker will present an overview about his recent successful enforcement of
the GNU GPL within German jurisdiction.  

In the end, it seems like the idea of the founding fathers of the GNU GPL
works:  Guaranteeing the freedom of Free Software by using Copyright to create
Copyleft.