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The first lawsuit for GPL violation in the USA has been filed yesterday against Monsoon Multimedia, who were distributing busybox without making the source code available. This appears to be primarily a precedent-setting action, since MM had already acknowledged that they were using GPL source code in their product(s). If SFLC (the complainant) wins an injunction, it would be a big step for GPL compliance in the US, and hopefully could also be used to get a precedent in India and other countries.
Story at: http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20070920153227686
Regards,
- -- Raju - -- Raj Mathur raju@kandalaya.org http://kandalaya.org/ Freedom in Technology & Software || September 2007 || http://freed.in/ GPG: 78D4 FC67 367F 40E2 0DD5 0FEF C968 D0EF CC68 D17F PsyTrance & Chill: http://schizoid.in/ || It is the mind that moves
On 9/21/07, Raj Mathur raju@linux-delhi.org wrote:
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The first lawsuit for GPL violation in the USA has been filed yesterday against Monsoon Multimedia, who were distributing busybox without making the source code available. This appears to be primarily a precedent-setting action, since MM had already acknowledged that they were using GPL source code in their product(s). [snip] Story at: http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20070920153227686
Regards,
- -- Raju
or, this could also be a cheap publicity stunt, given that one of the founders of the company has a background in law, and the founders like to create startups they can sell off at great prices. well, this si the best way to generate a huge buzz around their company, let every blogger, mailing list, forum discuss it. once the buzz dies, a quiet outofcourt settlement may follow, with nice soundbytes on how much they appreciate the gpl etc. then another piece of news on how some other company has paid a fortune for their product or their company.
maybe i'm wrong.
:-) niyam
2007/9/23, Linux Lingam linuxlingam@gmail.com:
or, this could also be a cheap publicity stunt, given that one of the founders of the company has a background in law, and the founders like to create startups they can sell off at great prices. well, this si the best way to generate a huge buzz around their company, let every blogger, mailing list, forum discuss it. once the buzz dies, a quiet outofcourt settlement may follow, with nice soundbytes on how much they appreciate the gpl etc. then another piece of news on how some other company has paid a fortune for their product or their company.
It got settled out of court. http://www.linux-watch.com/news/NS3761924232.html
I think this slashdot comment summarise the issue well
"For their reputation, it's a wash. Monsoon's reputation has been damaged by their original behavior but the settlement goes a long way to repairing that. The reputation enhancement they get from using free software is well deserved because free software has a well earned reputation for quality."
http://linux.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=307011&op=Reply&threshold=...
Cheers Praveen
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Linux Lingam -
Praveen A -
Raj Mathur