Supporting docs for announcement of VMware lawsuit
The VMware lawsuit will be announced publicly momentarily.
This commit is contained in:
Bradley M. Kuhn
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@ -150,6 +150,8 @@ h3 { margin-top: .6em; margin-bottom: .4em; }
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#container #sidebar.Current ul li.Current,
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#container #sidebar.Services ul li.Services,
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#container #sidebar.Applying ul li.Applying,
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#container #sidebar.VMWwareLawsuitAppeal ul li.VMwareLawsuitAppeal,
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#container #sidebar.VMwareLawsuitFAQ ul li.VMwareLawsuitFAQ,
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#container #sidebar.AboutCompliance ul li.AboutCompliance
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{
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color: #000033;
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about.html
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vmware-lawsuit-appeal.html
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{% extends "base_compliance.html" %}
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{% block subtitle %}GPL Compliance Project For Linux Developers - {% endblock %}
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{% block submenuselection %}VMwareLawsuitAppeal{% endblock %}
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{% block content %}
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<h1>The time has come to stand up for the GPL.</h1>
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<p><em>Today Conservancy <a href="/news/2015/mar/05/vmware-lawsuit/">announces Christoph Hellwig's
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lawsuit against VMware in Germany</a>. Help us meet our anonymous match to
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support Conservancy's and Christoph's efforts in this area
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by <a href="https://sfconservancy.org/supporter/">becoming a Conservancy
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supporter</a> or <a href="#donate-link">via the donate link
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below</a>.</em></p>
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<p>We were told to ask nicely and repeatedly, so we did.</p>
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<p>We asked allies to help us make contact in friendly and professional
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ways.</p>
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<p>Everyone asked us to give companies as many chances as possible and as
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much help as possible to comply with copyleft, so we did.</p>
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<p>We've worked for years to help VMware comply with the GPL, but they
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refuse. Negotiations broke down for the last time when they insisted on an
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NDA just to discuss settlement terms!</p>
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<p>Christoph is among the most active developers of Linux. As of Feburary
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19, 2015, Christoph has contributed 279,653 lines of code to the Linux kernel,
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and ranks 20th among the 1,340 developers involved in the latest 3.19 kernel
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release. Christoph also
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ranks 4th among those who have reviewed third-party source code, tirelessly
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corrected and commented on other developers' contributions. Christoph
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licenses his code to the public under the terms of the GPL for practical and
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ideological reasons. VMware, a company with net revenue of over $1 billion
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and over 14,000 employees, ignored Christoph's choice. They took Christoph's
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code from Linux and modified it to work with their own kernel without releasing
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source code of the resulting complete work. This is precisely the kind of
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activity Christoph and other kernel developers seek to prevent by choosing
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the GPL. The GPL was written to prevent this specific scenario!</p>
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<h3>This is a matter of principle.</h3>
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<p>Free and open source software is everywhere and in everything; yet our
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software freedom is constantly eroded.</p>
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<p>We want companies to incorporate our software into new products, but there
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are a few simple rules. Copylefted free software is so prevalent because
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there's no way a company can compete without using a significant amount of
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free software to bring products to market in reasonable time. They get so
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much benefit from our work. Allowing the whole community to review, use,
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improve and work with the code seems very little to ask in return. Copyleft
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also ensures competitors cannot undercut those who contribute. The GPL is
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effectively no different from a non-copyleft license without active
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enforcement.</p>
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<p>What point is there for companies to make sure that they're compliant if
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there are no consequences when the GPL is violated? Many will continue to
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ignore the rules without enforcement. We know that there are so many
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companies that willingly comply and embrace GPL as part of their business.
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Some are temporarily out of compliance and need to be brought up to speed,
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but willingly comply once they realize there is an issue. Sadly, VMware sits
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in the rare but infamous class of perpetually non-compliant companies. VMware
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has been aware of their noncompliance for years but actively refuses to do
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the right thing. Help us do right by those who take the code in the spirit
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it was given and comply with copyleft, and stop those don't.</p>
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<p>We know that copyleft isn't a favorite licensing strategy for some in our
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community. Even so, this case will help bring clarity on the question of
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combined and derivative works, and is essential to the future of all software
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freedom. This case deserves support from copyleft and non-copyleft free
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software communities alike.</p>
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<h3>Show you care</h3>
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<p>Bad actors have become complacent because they think you don't care. A
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strong show of public support for Conservancy and Christoph's position will
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help our legal case and demonstrate the interpretive context for it.
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Please donate to our campaign to enforce the GPL. Help Conservancy
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increase its number of individual donors, so we have clear evidence to show
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bad actors that the GPL matters to the individuals in our community.
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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.
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</p>
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<h3>Isn't the combined works and/or derivative works question a legal grey area?</h3>
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<p>We don't think so, but this case will let the court to decide that question.
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Either way, it's beneficial to our entire community to find out what the
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judges think. (Check out our <a href="/linux-compliance/vmware-lawsuit-faq.html">FAQ to find out more
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information.)</p>
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<p>Help us pay for this expensive lawsuit and to generally defend software
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freedom and the GPL. Help us show the world that copyleft matters. We are excited
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to announce an anonymous match for this campaign, where every dollar donated
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will be matched up to $50,000. Please
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donate now: by becoming <a href="/supporter/">a Conservancy Supporter</a> or
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via the link below:</p>
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<a id="donate-link">
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<form action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post" target="_top">
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<input type="hidden" name="cmd" value="_s-xclick">
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<input type="hidden" name="hosted_button_id" value="4ZKJN4F9BMFAS">
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<input type="image" src="https://www.paypalobjects.com/en_US/i/btn/btn_donateCC_LG.gif" style="border:0" name="submit" alt="PayPal - The safer, easier way to pay online!">
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<img alt="" style="border:0" src="https://www.paypalobjects.com/en_US/i/scr/pixel.gif" width="1" height="1">
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</form>
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<!-- PayPal end -->
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<p>Also see <a href="/donate/">Conservancy's donate</a>
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or <a href="/supporter/">supporter</a> pages for other ways to donate.</P>
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{% endblock %}
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154
www/conservancy/static/linux-compliance/vmware-lawsuit-faq.html
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{% extends "base_compliance.html" %}
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{% block subtitle %}GPL Compliance Project For Linux Developers - {% endblock %}
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{% block submenuselection %}VMwareLawsuitFAQ{% endblock %}
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{% block content %}
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<h1>Frequently Asked Questions about Christoph Hellwig's VMware Lawsuit</h1>
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<p>Conservancy maintains this
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<acronym title="Frequently Asked Questions">FAQ</acronym> list regarding
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<a href="/news/2015/mar/05/vmware-lawsuit/">Christoph Hellwig's lawsuit against VMware
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in Germany over alleged GPL violations on Linux</a> as a service to the
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Free Software community, and in particular, the copyleft community. Conservancy
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realizes this lawsuit generates many questions and interest
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from the community. Legal counsel (both Conservancy's own, and
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Christoph's lawyer, Till Jaeger) correctly advise us to limit our public
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comments regarding specific details of the case while litigation remains
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pending in court. Nevertheless, Conservancy, as a
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non-profit charity serving the public good, seeks to be as transparent as
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possible. If you have additional questions you'd like to see answered
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here, please <a href="mailto:info@sfconservancy.org">email
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<info@sfconservancy.org></a>, but understand that we may often need
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to answer: <q>We cannot comment on this while litigation is pending</q>.</p>
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<dl>
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<dt>Who is the Plaintiff in the lawsuit?</dt>
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<dd>Christoph is one of most active developers of the Linux kernel. He has
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contributed 279.653 lines of code to the latest Linux 3.19 kernel, and
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thus ranks 20th amongst the 1,340 developers involved in that release.
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Christoph also ranks 4th among those who have reviewed third-party source
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code, tirelessly corrected and commented on other developers'
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contributions.</dd>
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<dt>Are there any court documents to read?</dt>
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<dd>Not currently. Court proceedings are not public by default in Germany
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(unlike in the USA). Conservancy will continue to update this FAQ with
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information that Conservancy knows about the case. We would all also
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welcome an agreement with VMware whereby both sides would agree to publish
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all Court documents. </dd>
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<dt>Who is funding this lawsuit?</dt>
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<dd>Conservancy has engaged in a grant agreement with Christoph Hellwig for
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the purposes of pursuing this specific legal action in Germany.
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Conservancy is funding this legal action specifically as part of
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Conservancy's program activity in
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its <a href="/linux-compliance/about.html">GPL Compliance
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Project for Linux Developers</a>.</dd>
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<dt>Is this the Great Test Case of Combined/Derivative Works?</dt>
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<dd>This case is specifically regarding a combined work that VMware
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allegedly created by combining their own code (“vmkernel”) with
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portions of Linux's code, which was licensed only under GPLv2. As such,
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this, to our knowledge, marks the first time an enforcement case is
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exclusively focused on this type of legal question relating to GPL.
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However, there are so many different ways to make combined and/or
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derivative works that are covered by GPL that no single case could possibly
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include all such issues. </dd>
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<dt>Why must you file a lawsuit? Isn't there any other way to convince
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VMware to comply with GPL?</dt>
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<dd><p>Neither Conservancy nor Christoph takes this action lightly nor without
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exhausting every other possible alternative first. This lawsuit is the
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outgrowth of years of effort to convince VMware to comply with GPL.</p>
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<p>In October 2011, Conservancy received a GPL violation report on
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BusyBox for VMware's ESXi products. Conservancy opened the matter in its
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usual, friendly, and non-confrontational way. Nevertheless, VMware
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immediately referred Conservancy to VMware's outside legal counsel in the
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USA, and Conservancy negotiated with VMware's legal counsel throughout
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late 2011, 2012 and 2013. We exchanged and reviewed CCS candidates, and
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admittedly, VMware made substantial and good efforts toward compliance on
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BusyBox. However, VMware still refused to fix a few minor and one major
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compliance problem that we discovered during the process. Namely, there
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was a major violation regarding Linux itself that ultimately became
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Christoph's key complaint in this lawsuit.</p>
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<p>Meanwhile, when Conservancy realized in late 2012 there might be a major
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Linux violation still present in VMware's ESXi products, Conservancy
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representatives sought every industry contact we had for assistance,
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including those from trade associations, companies (both competitors and
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collaborators with VMware), and everyone else we could think of who might be
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able to help us proceed with friendly negotiations that would achieve
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compliance. While we cannot name publicly the people we asked for help
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to convince VMware to comply, they include some of the most notable
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executives, diplomats, and engineering managers in the Linux community. No
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one was able to assist Conservancy in convincing VMware to comply with the
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GPL. Then, in early 2014, VMware's outside legal counsel in the USA finally
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took a clear and hard line with Conservancy stating that they would not
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comply with the GPL on Linux and argued (in our view, incorrectly) that they
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were already in compliance.</p>
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<p>Conservancy in parallel informed Christoph fully of the details of the
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Linux violation on Christoph's copyrights, and based on Conservancy's
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findings, Christoph began his own investigation and confirmed
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Conservancy's compliance conclusions. Christoph then began his own
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enforcement effort with legal representation from Till Jaeger. Christoph has
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been unable to achieve compliance, either, through his negotiations in
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2014. VMware's last offer was a proposal for a settlement agreement that VMware would
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only provide if Christoph signed an NDA, and Christoph chose (quite
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reasonably) not to sign an NDA merely to look at settlement offer.</p>
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<p>Thus, this lawsuit comes after years of negotiations by Conservancy to
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achieve compliance — negotiations that ended in an outright refusal by
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VMware's lawyers to comply. Those events were then followed by a year of
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work by Christoph and Till to achieve compliance in a separate action.</p>
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<p>Simply put, Conservancy and Christoph fully exhausted every possible
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non-litigation strategy and tactic to convince VMware to do the right thing
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before filing this litigation.</p>
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</dd>
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<dt>Can you explain further how VMware incorporated code from Linux into
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their kernel?</dt>
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<dd>Conservancy prepared this diagram to show the technical situation as we
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understand it. The diagram compares the technical architecture of a full,
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running Linux kernel with a full, running VMware kernel:
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<p>
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<svg width="519" height="392">
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<image xlink:href="/linux-compliance/linux-vs-vmkernel_en.svg" src="/linux-compliance/linux-vs-vmkernel_en.png" width="519" height="392" />
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</svg></p>
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<p>If you want to download the diagram, it's available
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in <a href="/linux-compliance/linux-vs-vmkernel_en.svg">SVG
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(English)</a>, <a href="/linux-compliance/linux-vs-vmkernel_en.png">PNG
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(English)</a>, <a href="/linux-compliance/linux-vs-vmkernel_de.svg">SVG
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(German)</a>, and <a href="/linux-compliance/linux-vs-vmkernel_de.png">PNG
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(German)</a>.</p>
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</dd>
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<dt>I care about the future of copyleft and the GPL. How can I help this effort?</dt>
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<dd>Conservancy needs <a href="#donate-box" class="donate-now">your immediate financial
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support to proceed with this litigation</a>. Litigation costs are
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unpredictable, and this lawsuit may take years to resolve. Conservancy is
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prepared to fund this case through its conclusion, but we can only do so
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with <a href="/supporter/"><em>your</em> support</a>. If you are an
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individual who supports copyleft and wants to see it defended, please
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donate now.</dd>
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<dt>Why is the case in Germany?</dt>
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<dd>Copyright infringement claims can be brought anywhere that distribution
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of the copyrighted works occur. VMware distributes ESXi throughout the
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world, but Germany is close to Christoph's home and his lawyer was
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available to do the litigation work there. Finally, historically,
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Mr. Jaeger's cases in Germany have usually achieved worldwide compliance on
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the products at issue in those cases.</dd>
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</dl>
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{% endblock %}
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@ -43,6 +43,9 @@ of $<span id="fundraiser-goal">50,000</span> match met.<br/>
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<div id="sidebar" class="{% block submenuselection %}other{% endblock %}">
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<h2>Our GPL {% block category %}Compliance{% endblock %} Work</h2>
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<ul>
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<li class="VMwareLawsuitAppeal"><a href="/linux-compliance/vmware-lawsuit-appeal.html">Stand Up For GPL!</a></li>
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<li class="VMwareLawsuitFAQ"><a href="/linux-compliance/vmware-lawsuit-faq.html">
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<acronym title="Frequently Asked Questions">FAQ</acronym> on VMware Lawsuit/a></li>
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<li class="AboutCompliance"><a href="/linux-compliance/about.html">About GPL Compliance Project for Linux Developers</a></li>
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</ul>
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</div>
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