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<html newsdate="2011-11-07"> |
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<version>1</version> |
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<head> |
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<title>Court rejects AVM´s claims opposing third party modifications of GPL software</title> |
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</head> |
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<body> |
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<h1>Court rejects AVM´s claims opposing third party modifications of GPL software</h1> |
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<p>On November 8th the Regional Court of Berlin [Landgericht |
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Berlin] issued its decision in the previously reported case AVM Computersysteme |
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Vertriebs GmbH (AVM) v. Cybits AG (Cybits). In this case, AVM was essentially |
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trying to stop Cybits from modifying GNU GPL licensed Free Software inside of |
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their AVM Fritz!Box products. Yesterday, the court dismissed this principal |
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claim. Thus, it also confirmed that users of embedded devices with |
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pre-installed Free Software have the legal freedom to make, install, run and |
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distribute modifications to this Free Software. The Free Software Foundation |
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Europe (FSFE) and gpl-violations.org, both welcome this decision.</p> |
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<p>Although the written reasoning of the decision is not available yet, it is |
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clear that the court rejected AVM's claims according to which no third party |
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shall be permitted to alter their products' firmware, even if the GNU GPL |
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components are concerned. Thus, Cybits or anyone else may perform such |
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modifications. Furthermore, under the judgement, Cybits is not prohibited from |
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distributing its software that assists users in making and installing |
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modifications to GNU GPL licensed software (Linux kernel used in the Fritz!Box |
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device).</p> |
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<p>"I am extremely pleased that the court turned down any request by AVM to |
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control any modification to the GNU GPL licensed components of the Fritz!Box |
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firmware. Enabling and encouraging everyone to innovate based on existing |
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software and products is a key aspect of the Free Software movement.", says |
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Harald Welte, founder of gpl-violations.org and third party intervener on |
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behalf of Cybits in the dispute.</p> |
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<p>On the other hand, the court upheld an auxiliary claim raised by AVM. In its |
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ruling, it enjoins Cybits from distributing the software only in case it causes |
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the web interface to display a wrong status of the internet connection and web |
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filtering software. "But this is a side issue, the important part is: Free |
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Software gives everybody the right to use, study, share, and improve it. Nobody |
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should be allowed to prevent others from executing those rights", says Matthias |
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Kirschner, FSFE's German coordinator.</p> |
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<p>The decision can be appealed by either party within one month.</p> |
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https://fsfe.org/news/2011/news-20110620-01.en.html available in DE, |
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EL, FR, IT --> |
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<p>FSFE and gpl-violations.org are committed to encouraging the use of Free |
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Software by companies and developers by making licensing and compliance as easy |
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as possible. Generally it is considerably easier to comply with Free Software |
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licenses than with EULAs and other license agreements for non-Free software. |
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Often it is only necessary to add a copy of the GNU GPL license text to |
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documentation, and add an offer to provide the software source code (see |
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<a href="/activities/ftf/useful-tips-for-vendors.html">FSFE's compliance tips</a>).</p> |
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<ul> |
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<li><a href="/activities/avm-gpl-violation/avm-gpl-violation.html">Detailed background information</a></li> |
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<li>Previous news on this case:</li> |
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<ul> |
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<li>2011-06-20 - <a href="/news/2011/news-20110620-01.html">AVM violating license of the Linux kernel</a></li> |
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<li>2011-06-22 - <a href="/news/2011/news-20110622-01.html">FSFE on AVM vs Cybits: A small computer is still a computer</a></li> |
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</ul> |
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<li><a href="https://lwn.net/Articles/465070/">LWN article: "ELCE11: Till Jaeger on AVM vs. Cybits"</a></li> |
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</ul> |
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</body> |
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<tags> |
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<tag key="front-page"/> |
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<tag key="gpl"/> |
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<tag key="avm"/> |
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<tag key="compliance"/> |
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<tag key="legal"/> |
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<tag key="de"/> |
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</tags> |
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</html> |
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