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Work in term “impact litigation” & reverse chronological

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Also, add mention of current Vizio case briefly and link to its page.
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Bradley Kuhn 2025-08-15 14:00:51 -07:00
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conservancy/content/copyleft-compliance/past-lawsuits.html
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{% block submenuselection %}PastLawsuits{% endblock %} {% block submenuselection %}PastLawsuits{% endblock %}
{% block content %} {% block content %}
<h1>Previous Copyleft Litigation</h1> <h1>Impact Litigation for Copyleft</h1>
<p>Pursuant to our <a href="/copyleft-compliance/principles.html">Principles of <p>Pursuant to our <a href="/copyleft-compliance/principles.html">Principles of
Community-Oriented GPL enforcement</a>, Software Freedom Conservancy sees Community-Oriented GPL enforcement</a>, Software Freedom Conservancy
litigation as an last resort when other methods to achieve copyleft (<abbr>SFC</abbr>) engages in
compliance fail. Below, we discuss the outcome of past compliance litigation only as an last resort when other methods to adjudicate users'
lawsuits where Conservancy played a role.</p> rights under copyleft fail. However, when necessary, SFC engages in impact
litigation in lawsuits around the world &mdash; both as a Plaintiff
ourselves and by paying the legal fees of other Plaintiffs.</p>
<h2 id="best-buy-et-al">Software Freedom Conservancy v. Best Buy, et al</h2> <h2>Current Copyleft Litigation</h2>
<p>On 14 December 2009, Software Freedom Conservancy filed a federal copyright Our current impact litigation against <a href="/vizio/">Vizio</a> is ongoing
lawsuit against 14 defendants, including Best Buy, Samsung, Westinghouse, and to establish users' rights under the GPLv2 and LGPLv2.1. Please
JVC. do <a href="/vizio/">read more about it</a> and <a href="/sustainer">donate
The <a href="https://ia600207.us.archive.org/21/items/gov.uscourts.nysd.355978/gov.uscourts.nysd.355978.docket.html">docket to support this work!</a>
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 <h2>Past Copyleft Litigation</h2>
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 These past lawsuits are listed in reverse chronological order.
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> <h3 id="avm">Sebastian Steck's AVM Lawsuit</h3>
<p>Conservancy partially funded and assisted in coordination of Christoph <p>This <acronym title="Software Freedom Conservancy">SFC</acronym>-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>
<h3 id="vmware">Christoph Hellwig's VMware Lawsuit</h3>
<p><acronym title="Software Freedom Conservancy">SFC</acronym> partially funded and assisted in coordination of Christoph
Hellwig's lawsuit against VMware in Germany. That case concluded in 2019. Hellwig's lawsuit against VMware in Germany. That case concluded in 2019.
You can view the relevant announcements and analysis that Conservancy has You can view the relevant announcements and analysis that Conservancy has
published about the case below, starting with the announcement regarding published about the case below, starting with the announcement regarding
@ -60,15 +59,31 @@ the <a href="/docs/busybox-complaint-2009-12-14.pdf">original complaint is on
</ul> </ul>
</p> </p>
<h2 id="avm">Sebastian Steck's AVM Lawsuit</h2> <h3 id="best-buy-et-al">Software Freedom Conservancy v. Best Buy, et al</h3>
<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>On 14 December 2009, <acronym title="Software Freedom Conservancy">SFC</acronym> 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>SFC settled with each defendant at different times, and the
dismissals can be seen in the docket &mdash; the last occurring in
September 2012. 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>
<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>
{% endblock %} {% endblock %}