110 lines
5.9 KiB
HTML
110 lines
5.9 KiB
HTML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
|
|
|
|
<html newsdate="2011-06-20">
|
|
<head>
|
|
<title>AVM violating license of the Linux kernel</title>
|
|
</head>
|
|
<body>
|
|
|
|
<h1>AVM violating license of the Linux kernel</h1>
|
|
<h2>Linux kernel at centre of battle for control of embedded devices</h2>
|
|
|
|
<p newsteaser="yes"> Berlin, 20th June - Tomorrow on June 21st a legal case
|
|
will be heard before the District Court of Berlin which may have enormous
|
|
consequences for the way that software is developed and distributed. The
|
|
adversaries in the case are the manufacturer and distributor of DSL routers AVM
|
|
Computersysteme Vertriebs GmbH (AVM), and Cybits AG (Cybits) which produces
|
|
children's web-filtering software. Both companies use the Linux kernel, which is licensed
|
|
under the GNU General Public License, version 2 (GNU GPL); a Free Software
|
|
license permitting everyone to use, study, share, and improve works which use it.
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
The case was brought to court by AVM with the aim of preventing Cybits from changing
|
|
any parts of the firmware used in AVM's routers, including the Linux kernel.
|
|
The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) and gpl-violations.org consider
|
|
AVM's action as a broad attack against the principles of Free Software, and thus against the
|
|
thousands of individuals and companies developing, improving and distributing
|
|
Free Software.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"I decided to contribute my work to the Linux kernel under the GNU GPL, and let others
|
|
benefit from it. I'm happy if companies make a lot of money with software
|
|
written by me and thousands of others. But in return, when they distribute our
|
|
software I want them to give others the same rights they received from me",
|
|
said Harald Welte, founder of gpl-violations.org and copyright holder of several
|
|
parts of the Linux kernel.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>This is however exactly what AVM tried to avoid when in 2010 they filed
|
|
two actions against Cybits. AVM claimed that when their customers install
|
|
Cybits' filtering software on AVM routers it changes the routers' firmware
|
|
and consequently infringes on AVM's copyright. In the opinion of AVM, even
|
|
changing the Linux kernel components of the firmware is not allowed. The Court
|
|
of Appeals of Berlin rejected this argument in its decision on the request for
|
|
a preliminary injunction in September 2010, after Mr. Welte intervened in the
|
|
case. Now, the District Court of Berlin will have to decide on the issue again,
|
|
this time in the main proceedings.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"This case has far reaching consequences for the future of Free Software
|
|
and the GNU GPL. The GNU GPL is a legal license set by the original authors of
|
|
the software. These terms are not optional" said Till Jaeger from JBB
|
|
Rechtsanwälte who represents Mr. Welte in this case.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>If AVM succeeds in forbidding others from exercising the freedoms explicitly granted by the
|
|
GNU General Public License terms, it will directly contravene the legal rights
|
|
of the original authors of the programs, who decided that software freedom and
|
|
cooperation is more important to them than directly receiving license fees. Moreover,
|
|
there are also significant economic and business implications. First, it will
|
|
give device manufacturers the chance to veto software from third parties on
|
|
their products, resulting in worse products for the user and them being
|
|
locked-in to purchasing future products from a particular vendor.
|
|
Second, it will give companies like AVM an unfair advantage over their
|
|
competitors who are in compliance with the Free Software licenses which they use.
|
|
Third, it will threaten the cooperative software development model,
|
|
which has been successfully used by many companies worldwide for three decades.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"AVM is attacking the very foundations of Free Software: They want to take away
|
|
freedom from others. We have to act when a company sues others for
|
|
executing their right to modify Free Software. AVM's behaviour must not be
|
|
tolerated. If they are successful in court it will be disastrous for the
|
|
global market for embedded devices, which includes mobile phones, network
|
|
hardware, and other Linux based products" says Matthias Kirschner, FSFE's
|
|
German Coordinator.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Ironically, by preventing others from enacting the rights granted by the GNU GPL,
|
|
AVM itself is in violation of the license terms. Therefore they have no right
|
|
to distribute the software" says Till Jaeger.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>FSFE and gpl-violations.org are committed to encouraging the use of Free
|
|
Software by companies and developers by making licensing and compliance as easy
|
|
as possible. Generally it is considerably easier to comply with Free Software licenses
|
|
than with EULAs and other license agreements for non-Free software. Often it is
|
|
only necessary to add a copy of the GNU GPL license text to documentation, and
|
|
add an offer to provide the software source code (see <a
|
|
href="/activities/ftf/useful-tips-for-vendors.html">FSFE's compliance
|
|
tips</a>).</p>
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li><strong><a href="/activities/ftf/avm-gpl-violation.html">Link to Background Information</a></strong></li>
|
|
<li><a href="/activities/ftf/kg-avm-vs-cybits.pdf">Court decision 2nd instance (pdf, German)</a></li>
|
|
<li><a href="/activities/ftf/avm-nebenintervention.pdf">Intervention by Harald Welte (pdf, German)</a></li>
|
|
<li><a href="/activities/ftf/ftf.html">FSFE's legal page</a></li>
|
|
<li><a href="/activities/ftf/documentation.html">FSFE's legal team maintains a collection of documentation on Free Software Legal and Licensing topics. It also produces guides and handbooks.</a></li>
|
|
<li><a href="http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html">Frequently Asked Questions about the GNU Licenses</a></li>
|
|
<li><a href="http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-2.0.html">GNU GPL version 2</a> and <a href="http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-2.0-translations.html">unofficial translations</a></li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
|
</body>
|
|
<tags>
|
|
<tag>front-page</tag>
|
|
<tag>de</tag>
|
|
<tag>GnuGpl</tag>
|
|
<tag>AVM</tag><tag>Compliance</tag><tag>Ruling</tag><tag>Germany</tag>
|
|
</tags>
|
|
</html>
|
|
<!--
|
|
Local Variables: ***
|
|
mode: xml ***
|
|
End: ***
|
|
-->
|
|
|