We were told to ask nicely and repeatedly, so we did.
+
+
We asked allies to help us make contact in friendly and professional
+ ways.
+
+
Everyone asked us to give companies as many chances as possible and as
+ much help as possible to comply with copyleft, so we did.
+
+
We've worked for years to help VMware comply with the GPL, but they
+refuse. Negotiations broke down for the last time when they insisted on an
+NDA just to discuss settlement terms!
+
+
Christoph is among the most active developers of Linux. As of Feburary
+19, 2015, Christoph has contributed 279,653 lines of code to the Linux kernel,
+and ranks 20th among the 1,340 developers involved in the latest 3.19 kernel
+release. Christoph also
+ranks 4th among those who have reviewed third-party source code, tirelessly
+corrected and commented on other developers' contributions. Christoph
+licenses his code to the public under the terms of the GPL for practical and
+ideological reasons. VMware, a company with net revenue of over $1 billion
+and over 14,000 employees, ignored Christoph's choice. They took Christoph's
+code from Linux and modified it to work with their own kernel without releasing
+source code of the resulting complete work. This is precisely the kind of
+activity Christoph and other kernel developers seek to prevent by choosing
+the GPL. The GPL was written to prevent this specific scenario!
+
+
This is a matter of principle.
+
+
Free and open source software is everywhere and in everything; yet our
+ software freedom is constantly eroded.
+
+
We want companies to incorporate our software into new products, but there
+are a few simple rules. Copylefted free software is so prevalent because
+there's no way a company can compete without using a significant amount of
+free software to bring products to market in reasonable time. They get so
+much benefit from our work. Allowing the whole community to review, use,
+improve and work with the code seems very little to ask in return. Copyleft
+also ensures competitors cannot undercut those who contribute. The GPL is
+effectively no different from a non-copyleft license without active
+enforcement.
+
+
What point is there for companies to make sure that they're compliant if
+there are no consequences when the GPL is violated? Many will continue to
+ignore the rules without enforcement. We know that there are so many
+companies that willingly comply and embrace GPL as part of their business.
+Some are temporarily out of compliance and need to be brought up to speed,
+but willingly comply once they realize there is an issue. Sadly, VMware sits
+in the rare but infamous class of perpetually non-compliant companies. VMware
+has been aware of their noncompliance for years but actively refuses to do
+the right thing. Help us do right by those who take the code in the spirit
+it was given and comply with copyleft, and stop those don't.
+
+
We know that copyleft isn't a favorite licensing strategy for some in our
+community. Even so, this case will help bring clarity on the question of
+combined and derivative works, and is essential to the future of all software
+freedom. This case deserves support from copyleft and non-copyleft free
+software communities alike.
+
+
Show you care
+
+
Bad actors have become complacent because they think you don't care. A
+ strong show of public support for Conservancy and Christoph's position will
+ help our legal case and demonstrate the interpretive context for it.
+ Please donate to our campaign to enforce the GPL. Help Conservancy
+ increase its number of individual donors, so we have clear evidence to show
+ bad actors that the GPL matters to the individuals in our community.
+ After you donate, go and tell the world: “Play by the rules, @VMWare. I defend the #GPL with Christoph & @Conservancy. #DTRTvmware Help at https://sfconservancy.org/supporter/ ” on your blog or microblog.
+
+
+
+
Isn't the combined works and/or derivative works question a legal grey area?
+
+
We don't think so, but this case will let the court to decide that question.
+Either way, it's beneficial to our entire community to find out what the
+judges think. (Check out our FAQ to find out more
+information.)
+
+
Help us pay for this expensive lawsuit and to generally defend software
+ freedom and the GPL. Help us show the world that copyleft matters. We are excited
+ to announce an anonymous match for this campaign, where every dollar donated
+ will be matched up to $50,000. Please
+ donate now: by becoming a Conservancy Supporter or
+ via the link below:
Frequently Asked Questions about Christoph Hellwig's VMware Lawsuit
+
+
Conservancy maintains this
+ FAQ list regarding
+ Christoph Hellwig's lawsuit against VMware
+ in Germany over alleged GPL violations on Linux as a service to the
+ Free Software community, and in particular, the copyleft community. Conservancy
+ realizes this lawsuit generates many questions and interest
+ from the community. Legal counsel (both Conservancy's own, and
+ Christoph's lawyer, Till Jaeger) correctly advise us to limit our public
+ comments regarding specific details of the case while litigation remains
+ pending in court. Nevertheless, Conservancy, as a
+ non-profit charity serving the public good, seeks to be as transparent as
+ possible. If you have additional questions you'd like to see answered
+ here, please email
+ <info@sfconservancy.org>, but understand that we may often need
+ to answer: We cannot comment on this while litigation is pending.
+
+
+
Who is the Plaintiff in the lawsuit?
+
+
Christoph is one of most active developers of the Linux kernel. He has
+ contributed 279.653 lines of code to the latest Linux 3.19 kernel, and
+ thus ranks 20th amongst the 1,340 developers involved in that release.
+ Christoph also ranks 4th among those who have reviewed third-party source
+ code, tirelessly corrected and commented on other developers'
+ contributions.
+
+
Are there any court documents to read?
+
+
Not currently. Court proceedings are not public by default in Germany
+ (unlike in the USA). Conservancy will continue to update this FAQ with
+ information that Conservancy knows about the case. We would all also
+ welcome an agreement with VMware whereby both sides would agree to publish
+ all Court documents.
+
+
Who is funding this lawsuit?
+
+
Conservancy has engaged in a grant agreement with Christoph Hellwig for
+ the purposes of pursuing this specific legal action in Germany.
+ Conservancy is funding this legal action specifically as part of
+ Conservancy's program activity in
+ its GPL Compliance
+ Project for Linux Developers.
+
+
Is this the Great Test Case of Combined/Derivative Works?
+
+
This case is specifically regarding a combined work that VMware
+ allegedly created by combining their own code (“vmkernel”) with
+ portions of Linux's code, which was licensed only under GPLv2. As such,
+ this, to our knowledge, marks the first time an enforcement case is
+ exclusively focused on this type of legal question relating to GPL.
+ However, there are so many different ways to make combined and/or
+ derivative works that are covered by GPL that no single case could possibly
+ include all such issues.
+
+
Why must you file a lawsuit? Isn't there any other way to convince
+ VMware to comply with GPL?
+
+
Neither Conservancy nor Christoph takes this action lightly nor without
+ exhausting every other possible alternative first. This lawsuit is the
+ outgrowth of years of effort to convince VMware to comply with GPL.
+
+
In October 2011, Conservancy received a GPL violation report on
+ BusyBox for VMware's ESXi products. Conservancy opened the matter in its
+ usual, friendly, and non-confrontational way. Nevertheless, VMware
+ immediately referred Conservancy to VMware's outside legal counsel in the
+ USA, and Conservancy negotiated with VMware's legal counsel throughout
+ late 2011, 2012 and 2013. We exchanged and reviewed CCS candidates, and
+ admittedly, VMware made substantial and good efforts toward compliance on
+ BusyBox. However, VMware still refused to fix a few minor and one major
+ compliance problem that we discovered during the process. Namely, there
+ was a major violation regarding Linux itself that ultimately became
+ Christoph's key complaint in this lawsuit.
+
+
Meanwhile, when Conservancy realized in late 2012 there might be a major
+ Linux violation still present in VMware's ESXi products, Conservancy
+ representatives sought every industry contact we had for assistance,
+ including those from trade associations, companies (both competitors and
+ collaborators with VMware), and everyone else we could think of who might be
+ able to help us proceed with friendly negotiations that would achieve
+ compliance. While we cannot name publicly the people we asked for help
+ to convince VMware to comply, they include some of the most notable
+ executives, diplomats, and engineering managers in the Linux community. No
+ one was able to assist Conservancy in convincing VMware to comply with the
+ GPL. Then, in early 2014, VMware's outside legal counsel in the USA finally
+ took a clear and hard line with Conservancy stating that they would not
+ comply with the GPL on Linux and argued (in our view, incorrectly) that they
+ were already in compliance.
+
+
Conservancy in parallel informed Christoph fully of the details of the
+ Linux violation on Christoph's copyrights, and based on Conservancy's
+ findings, Christoph began his own investigation and confirmed
+ Conservancy's compliance conclusions. Christoph then began his own
+ enforcement effort with legal representation from Till Jaeger. Christoph has
+ been unable to achieve compliance, either, through his negotiations in
+ 2014. VMware's last offer was a proposal for a settlement agreement that VMware would
+ only provide if Christoph signed an NDA, and Christoph chose (quite
+ reasonably) not to sign an NDA merely to look at settlement offer.
+
+
Thus, this lawsuit comes after years of negotiations by Conservancy to
+ achieve compliance — negotiations that ended in an outright refusal by
+ VMware's lawyers to comply. Those events were then followed by a year of
+ work by Christoph and Till to achieve compliance in a separate action.
+
+
Simply put, Conservancy and Christoph fully exhausted every possible
+ non-litigation strategy and tactic to convince VMware to do the right thing
+ before filing this litigation.
+
+
+
Can you explain further how VMware incorporated code from Linux into
+ their kernel?
+
+
Conservancy prepared this diagram to show the technical situation as we
+ understand it. The diagram compares the technical architecture of a full,
+ running Linux kernel with a full, running VMware kernel:
+
I care about the future of copyleft and the GPL. How can I help this effort?
+
+
Conservancy needs your immediate financial
+ support to proceed with this litigation. Litigation costs are
+ unpredictable, and this lawsuit may take years to resolve. Conservancy is
+ prepared to fund this case through its conclusion, but we can only do so
+ with your support. If you are an
+ individual who supports copyleft and wants to see it defended, please
+ donate now.
+
+
Why is the case in Germany?
+
+
Copyright infringement claims can be brought anywhere that distribution
+ of the copyrighted works occur. VMware distributes ESXi throughout the
+ world, but Germany is close to Christoph's home and his lawyer was
+ available to do the litigation work there. Finally, historically,
+ Mr. Jaeger's cases in Germany have usually achieved worldwide compliance on
+ the products at issue in those cases.
+
+
+{% endblock %}
diff --git a/www/conservancy/templates/base_compliance.html b/www/conservancy/templates/base_compliance.html
index 0df9af47..93532578 100644
--- a/www/conservancy/templates/base_compliance.html
+++ b/www/conservancy/templates/base_compliance.html
@@ -43,6 +43,9 @@ of $50,000 match met.
Our GPL {% block category %}Compliance{% endblock %} Work
