129 lines
6.7 KiB
HTML
129 lines
6.7 KiB
HTML
{% extends "base_compliance.html" %}
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{% block subtitle %}Copyleft Compliance Projects - {% endblock %}
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{% block submenuselection %}PastLawsuits{% endblock %}
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{% block content %}
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<h2>The time has come to stand up for the GPL.</h2>
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<p><strong>Update 2019-04-02:</strong> Please
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see <a href="https://sfconservancy.org/news/2019/apr/02/vmware-no-appeal/">this
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announcement regarding conclusion of the VMware suit in Germany</a>. Since the suit has
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concluded, any funds you donate here will support our ongoing compliance efforts. The
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remaining material below is left as it was before that announcement:</p>
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<p><em>In March 2015, Conservancy <a href="/news/2015/mar/05/vmware-lawsuit/">announced Christoph Hellwig's
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lawsuit against VMware in Germany</a>. In July 2016,
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we <a href="/news/2016/aug/09/vmware-appeal/">announced that Christoph
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would appeal the lower court's ruling</a>.</p>
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Support Conservancy's and Christoph's efforts in this area
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by <a href="/sustainer/">becoming a Conservancy
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sustainer</a> or <a href="#donate-box" class="donate-now">donating via
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the link on the right</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. Without active enforcement, the GPL is
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effectively no different from a non-copyleft license.</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 <a href="#donate-box" class="donate-now">donate</a> 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 <a href="#donate-box" class="donate-now">donate</a>, go and tell the world: “Play by the rules, @VMware. I defend the #GPL with Christoph & @Conservancy. #DTRTvmware Help at https://sfconservancy.org/sustainer/ ” 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="/copyleft-compliance/vmware-lawsuit-faq.html">FAQ to find out more
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information</a>.)</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 that we already reached an anonymous match for this campaign, where every dollar donated
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was matched up to $50,000. However, that $100,000 is just an initial step
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and there is so much GPL enforcement work to do. So, please
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donate now: by becoming <a href="/sustainer/">a Conservancy Sustainer</a> or
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via <a href="#donate-box" class="donate-now">donate link on the right</a>.</p>
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<h3>Want To Know More?</h3>
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<p>Watch the video below of Conservancy Executive Director, Karen Sandler,
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<a href="/news/2015/mar/31/libreplanet/">delivering a keynote on this topic
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at
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LibrePlanet 2015</a>:</p>
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<p>
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<video controls
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preload="auto" class="video-js vjs-default-skin"
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data-setup='{"height": 276,
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"width": 640 }'>
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<source src="https://media.libreplanet.org/mgoblin_media/media_entries/113/karen-sandler-keynote-2015.medium.webm"
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type="video/webm; codecs="vp8, vorbis""
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/>
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</video>
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</p>
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<p>Or, read <a href="/copyleft-compliance/vmware-lawsuit-faq.html">our FAQ about
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the lawsuit</a>.</p>
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{% endblock %}
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