About the speaker

A deeply technical person, IANAL.
Started as FOSS sysadmin in the mid-1990ies
Network security expert, electronics engineer, software developer.
Former Linux Kernel developer from 1999 on
Former head of netfilter core team
Founder of gpl-violations.org
Recipient of FSF Award for the Advancement of Free Software
Recipient of Google/O’Reilly Open Source Award
Now fully immersed in implementing cellular (GSM/3G) protocol stacks under the Osmocom.org project (mostly AGPLv3)

The past of FS license enforcement

For those not around to witness it:

early work by the FSF (until 2004?)
- entirely out of court
gpl-violations.org (2003-2011)
- started by a Linux Kernel developer (yours truly)
Software Freedom Conservancy (2006-current)
- doing excellent work on behalf of many projects since

gpl-violations.org early history

device makers stared to use embedded Linux in WiFi routers
vendors did not get into compliance
some frustration existed with FSFs back then very tolerant approach of pushing for compliance at Linksys
further companies were infringing, triggering me as one of the many copyright holders to pursue independent legal action against product vendors in Germany

gpl-violations.org later history

Fast-Forward 8 years. Results:

more than two hundred enforcements in total
- some of them didn’t even reach any legal claims
- most of them were settled out of court
- some very few actually had to go to court
created some of the first precedent in terms of GPL enforcement in court, both in Germany and world-wide
not a single case lost

gpl-violations.org dormancy

While doing netfilter work as dayjob, there still was time to do compliance work in spare time
Increasingly difficult when I got involved with OpenMoko in Taiwan (2007-2009)
Impossible to find time while I started + bootstrapped my new company sysmocom from 2011 onwards
Big loss to the project when Armijn left in 2012

Result: No gpl-violations.org activity in years. Project became dormant.

gpl-violations.org dormancy

I’ve never been particularly sad about the dormancy
We did some pioneering and hugely successful work in GPL enforcement, creating ripples throughout the technology industry.
The legal network got started as a forum for related topics
Other people (e.g. SFC) started to do enforcement
So I didn’t think it’s a loss if I focus on other areas for an undefined amount of time

Still, it is a pity that it was too much tied to me personally, and there was no structure and no team that could continue the work.

Let’s learn from that…

Resurrection, Step 1 (Q4/2015)

brought historic content of gpl-violations.org back online
occasional blog post about GPL related topics again
getting more exposure in FOSS legal community again
reporting about VMware case (in which I’m not legally involved, but which I very much support)

Resurrection, Step 2 (2016)

establishing a legal body for new gpl-violations.org activities
- put project on more shoulders
- less dependency on me personally
- taking legal action as natural person didn’t allow others to get involved to larger extent due to associated personal risk
I wanted to have it established before LLW, but schedule slipped. Plan is to definitely complete this within Q2/2016.

gpl-violations.org e.V.

structure of a German "eingetragener Verein" (e.V.)
membership-based entity, where FOSS developers can become members
members can (but do not have to) sign fiduciary license agreement to enable gpl-violations.org e.V. to enforce license on their behalf
any enforcement will be done in compliance with the principles of community-oriented enforcement as published by SFC+FSF
is not going to be charitable due to increased tax/legal risk
- financial structure and usage of funds will be published to avoid any claims regarding misappropriation of funds

How is this different to SFC?

Jurisdiction / Geographic Scope
- SFC is primarily active in the US (so far?)
- gpl-violations.org would be primarily active in Germany, maybe EU
There’s no shortage of violations to enforce, i.e. room for many more people or entities doing active enforcement
Very narrow focus on copyleft license enforcement, no other services

Apart from that, in terms of goals and actual enforcement work, not all that different. At last not that it is planned.

Isn’t more enforcement harmful?

there is some feeling that more enforcement scares people away from FOSS
I think it matters a lot about the style of enforcement. We need more evidence of people caring about licenses and doing enforcement in a proper and respected way; compliance-centric and within a generally accepted common sense.
I also think license enforcement is required to make new (corporate) players in the FOSS world comply, and to continuously encourage and increase motivations for companies to be compliant
Last, but not least: License enforcement is also happening in proprietary software, so it’s not a specific issue of FOSS, so let’s not over-dramatize it.

Actual enforcement process

will probably not look any different from the past
reports of GPL violations by the community at large
technical investigation + establishing legal evidence
sending warning notice to company, requesting cease + desist
resolving the issue hopefully out of court
going to court whenever it is really necessary

Outlook

get over with formalities of establishment
get initial group of members to sign up
establish and tune the related processes
get started with some actual enforcement

Let’s meet again next year at LLW and talk about the progress by then.

Thanks

to Armijn for helping me all those years in the past at gpl-violations.org
to Till Jaeger and his team at JBB for all their legal help
to FSFE for their great work far beyond the Legal Network

You now have a license to ask questions (SCNR).

The past and the future of Free Software License Violations

About the speaker

The past of FS license enforcement

gpl-violations.org early history

gpl-violations.org later history

gpl-violations.org dormancy

gpl-violations.org dormancy

Resurrection, Step 1 (Q4/2015)

Resurrection, Step 2 (2016)

gpl-violations.org e.V.

How is this different to SFC?

Isn’t more enforcement harmful?

Actual enforcement process

Outlook

Thanks