[Tfug] GPL Worthless?

[Claude Rubinson]

On Sat, Sep 08, 2012 at 01:57:53AM -0700, John Gruenenfelder wrote:
> Richie is correct that the FSF is one of the main bodies that pursues GPL
> violations.  Of course, they don't do this proactively.  The actual
> copyright holder has to bring it to their attention and in most cases
> litigation never occurs because the guilty party will make some effort at
> releasing source (and remember that you need only release your changes; you
> don't have to do anything for just *using*).  The FSF doesn't just troll
> the Internet for possible violations.
> 
> I can't think of any offhand, but if you follow Slashdot you will see
> stories about GPL violations and resolutions every now and then.

One of the other significant enforcement bodies is the Software
Freedom Conservancy, whose executive director is Bradley Kuhn (who
used to do enforcement for the FSF).  Kuhn is someone who's definitely
worth following, as he's passionate about free software principles but
also clear, articulate, and pretty transparent.  One of the things
that he emphasizes is that both the FSF and SFC seek to avoid going to
court and/or publicly shaming companies and instead try to work with
violators to bring them into compliance.  What this means is that the
FSF and SFC don't always broadcast all the work that they're
doing--not because they're trying to hide something, but because
they've learned that most copyleft violations are unintentional and
that they get better results when they don't publicly flame the
company in question.  (Although I do think that both organizations,
the FSF in particular, could cultivate more goodwill by being a bit
more public about all that they're doing on behalf of the rest of us.)

The irony is that there's now a perception that copyleft licenses such
as the GPL don't have any value/teeth because they're not often tested
in court.  In fact, the opposite is true--the reason that they're not
often tested in court is because the licenses are pretty clear, as are
the penalties for violating them--you simply lose the *additional*
rights that the license had granted you.

The SFC's webpage is at http://sfconservancy.org/news/ and Kuhn's
homepage is at http://ebb.org/bkuhn/

Claude