website/conservancy/content/copyleft-compliance/past-lawsuits.html

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<h1>Previous Copyleft Litigation</h1>

<p>Pursuant to our <a href="/copyleft-compliance/principles.html">Principles of
  Community-Oriented GPL enforcement</a>, Software Freedom Conservancy sees
  litigation as an last resort when other methods to achieve copyleft
  compliance fail.  Below, we discuss the outcome of past compliance
  lawsuits where Conservancy played a role.</p>

<h2 id="best-buy-et-al">Software Freedom Conservancy v. Best Buy, et al</h2>

<p>On 14 December 2009, Software Freedom Conservancy filed a federal copyright
lawsuit against 14 defendants, including Best Buy, Samsung, Westinghouse, and
JVC.
The <a href="https://ia600207.us.archive.org/21/items/gov.uscourts.nysd.355978/gov.uscourts.nysd.355978.docket.html">docket
of that lawsuit is available (on archive.org)</a> and
the <a href="/docs/busybox-complaint-2009-12-14.pdf">original complaint is on
    our website</a>.</p>

<p>Conservancy settled with each defendant at different times, and the
  dismissals can be seen in the docket.  Generally speaking, and pursuant to
  our <a href="/copyleft-compliance/principles.html">Principles of
  Community-Oriented GPL enforcement</a>, Conservancy never settles a lawsuit
  unless we believe that full compliance has been achieved (or will be
  achieved imminently) with the terms of <em>all</em> copyleft licenses
  on <em>all</em> software included in the devices at issue in any lawsuit
  that we've filed.</p>

<p>One oft-stated confusion about this litigation was that we sued Best Buy
  for sales of third-party devices in their stores.  <strong>That is not
  accurate</strong>.  Best Buy had a house-brand DVD player under the
  &ldquo;Insignia&rdquo; &ldquo;house brand&rdquo; that they produced as
  their own product.</p>

<h2 id="vmware">Christoph Hellwig's VMware Lawsuit</h2>

<p>Conservancy partially funded and assisted in coordination of Christoph
  Hellwig's lawsuit against VMware in Germany.  That case concluded in 2019.
  You can view the relevant announcements and analysis that Conservancy has
  published about the case below, starting with the announcement regarding
  the conclusion of the case:</p>

<p>
  <ul>
    <li><a href="/news/2019/apr/02/vmware-no-appeal/">VMware Suit Concludes in Germany</a></li>
    <li><a href="http://faif.us/cast/2019/apr/22/0x66/"><cite>Free as in
    Freedom</cite> podcast that discusses the conclusion of the
    lawsuit</a></li>
    <li><a href="/news/2016/aug/09/vmware-appeal/">Announcement of Appeal</a></li>
    <li><a href="/news/2015/mar/05/vmware-lawsuit/">Original Press Release</a></li>
    <li><a href="/copyleft-compliance/vmware-lawsuit-appeal.html">Funding our Compliance Work</a></li>
    <li><a href="/copyleft-compliance/vmware-lawsuit-faq.html">
      <abbr title="Frequently Asked Questions">FAQ</abbr> on VMware Lawsuit</a></li>
    <li><a href="/copyleft-compliance/vmware-code-similarity.html">VMware's &amp;
      Christoph's Code Similarity Analysis</a></li>
  </ul>
</p>

<h2 id="avm">Sebastian Steck's AVM Lawsuit</h2>

<p>This SFC-funded user rights lawsuit was filed by Sebastian Steck in Berlin in 2023 and received a positive final decision from the court in June 2024 with AVM providing "the scripts used to control ... installation of the executable" for the LGPLv2.1 works in the AVM router that Steck purchased.  More details are available in our press release and informational page, which provides the source code that was received from AVM allowing users to modify and reinstall copylefted works into the router's flash memory:</p>

<p>
  <ul>
    <li><a href="/news/2025/jan/09/avm-copyleft-lawsuit-resolved-with-install/">SFC-funded lawsuit gets software repair and reinstall for users of AVM routers</a></li>
    <li><a href="/copyleft-compliance/avm.html">Court documents and source code of successful SFC-funded lawsuit in Germany against AVM</a></li>
  </ul>
</p>

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