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VMware Lawsuit FAQ entry: Why doesn't FSF enforce?

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This FAQ and its answer explain why the FSF can't take care of
enforcement for this particular matter.
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Bradley M. Kuhn 2015-03-11 13:15:01 -07:00
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www/conservancy/static/linux-compliance/vmware-lawsuit-faq.html
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@ -148,6 +148,23 @@
</ul>
</dd>
<dt>I
see <a href="https://fsf.org/news/conservancy-and-christoph-hellwig-gpl-enforcement-lawsuit">FSF's
statement of support</a>, but why
isn't <a href="https://www.fsf.org/licensing/compliance">FSF enforcing</a> in
this case?</dt>
<dd>While FSF are the authors and license steward of the GNU GPL, it's up to
the copyright holder to enforce GPL. VMware created an operating system by
combining parts of the kernel named Linux with their own proprietary code,
and then added BusyBox to provide the userspace operating system components.
As such, ESXi is not
a <a href="https://www.gnu.org/gnu/linux-and-gnu.html">traditional GNU/Linux
system</a>. FSF has many copyrights of its own, but these are almost
exclusively on various parts of the GNU system, not on the kernel, Linux. As
such, FSF probably does not have copyright interests available to directly
enforce the GPL regarding the primary issue in this case.</dd>
<dt><em>I</em> care about copyleft and the GPL. How can I help?</dt>
<dd>Conservancy needs <a href="#donate-box" class="donate-now">your immediate financial