% compliance-guide.tex                            -*- LaTeX -*-

\part{A Practical Guide to GPL Compliance}

\label{gpl-compliance-guide}

{\parindent 0in

This part is: \\

\begin{tabbing}

Copyright \= \copyright{} 2008, 2014 \= \hspace{.2in} Bradley M. Kuhn. \\

Copyright \= \copyright{} 2014 \> \hspace{.2in} Free Software Foundation, Inc. \\

Copyright \> \copyright{} 2008, 2014 \> \hspace{.2in} Software Freedom Law Center. \\

\end{tabbing}

\vspace{.1in}

\begin{center}

The copyright holders of this part hereby grant the freedom to copy, modify,

convey, Adapt, and/or redistribute this work under the terms of the Creative

Commons Attribution Share Alike 4.0 International License.  A copy of that

license is available at

\url{https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode}.

\vfill

CC-By-SA-licensed published works: \\

\begin{itemize}

\item \hrefnofollow{http://www.softwarefreedom.org/resources/2008/compliance-guide.html}{\textit{The Practical Guide GPL Compliance}}, by Bradley M. Kuhn, Aaron

Williamson and Karen Sandler, first published on 2008-08-20. \\

\item \hrefnofollow{http://www.softwarefreedom.org/resources/2014/SFLC-Guide_to_GPL_Compliance_2d_ed.html}{\textit{Software Freedom Law Center Guide to GPL Compliance, 2nd

  Edition}} by Eben Moglen and Mishi Choudhary, first published on 2014-10-31. \\

\end{itemize}

However, this work is primarily composed of the many contributions it

receives as a public, collaborative project.  Please

\href{https://gitorious.org/copyleft-org/tutorial/history/master:compliance-guide.tex}{review

  its Git logs} for full documentation of all contributions.

\end{center}

}

\pagebreak

\chapter*{Executive Summary}

This is a guide to effective compliance with the GNU General Public

License (GPL) and related licenses.  Copyleft advocates

usually seek to assist the community with

GPL compliance cooperatively.   This guide focuses on complying from the

start, so that readers can learn to avoid enforcement actions entirely, or, at

least, minimize  the negative impact when enforcement actions occur.

This guide  introduces and explains basic legal concepts related to the GPL and its

enforcement by copyright holders. It also outlines business practices and

methods that lead to better GPL compliance.  Finally, it recommends proper

post-violation responses to the concerns of copyright holders.

\chapter{Background}

Copyright law grants exclusive rights to authors.  Authors who chose copyleft

seek to protect the freedom of users and developers to copy, share, modify

and redistribute the software.  However, copyleft is ultimately implemented

through copyright, and the GPL is primarily and by default a copyright

license.  (See \S~\ref{explaining-copyright} for more about the interaction

between copyright and copyleft.)  Copyright law grants an unnatural exclusive

control to copyright holders regarding copyright-controlled permissions

related to the work.  Therefore, copyright holders (or their agents) are the

ultimately the sole authorities to enforce copyleft and protect the rights of

users.  Actions for copyright infringement are the ultimate legal mechanism

for enforcement.  Therefore, copyright holders, or collaborative groups of

copyright holders, have historically been the actors in GPL enforcement.

The earliest of these efforts began soon after the GPL was written by

Richard M.~Stallman (RMS) in 1989, and consisted of informal community efforts,

often in public Usenet discussions.\footnote{One example is the public

  outcry over NeXT's attempt to make the Objective-C front-end to GCC

  proprietary.  RMS, in fact, handled this enforcement action personally and

  the Objective-C front-end is still part of upstream GCC today.}  Over the next decade, the Free Software Foundation (FSF),

which holds copyrights in many GNU programs, was the only visible entity

actively enforcing its GPL'd copyrights on behalf of the software freedom

community.

FSF's enforcement

was generally a private process; the FSF contacted violators

confidentially and helped them to comply with the license.  Most

violations were pursued this way until the early 2000's.

By that time, Linux-based systems such as GNU/Linux and BusyBox/Linux had become very common, particularly in

embedded devices such as wireless routers.  During this period, public

ridicule of violators in the press and on Internet fora supplemented

ongoing private enforcement and increased pressure on businesses to

comply.  In 2003, the FSF formalized its efforts into the GPL Compliance

Lab, increased the volume of enforcement, and built community coalitions

to encourage copyright holders to together settle amicably with violators.

Beginning in 2004, Harald Welte took a more organized public enforcement

approach and launched \href{http://gpl-violations.org/}{gpl-violations.org}, a website and mailing

list for collecting reports of GPL violations.  On the basis of these

reports, Welte successfully pursued many enforcement actions in Europe, including

formal legal action.  Harald earns the permanent fame as the first copyright

holder to bring legal action in a court regarding GPL compliance.

In 2007, two copyright holders in BusyBox, in conjunction with the

Software Freedom Conservancy (``Conservancy''), filed the first copyright infringement lawsuit

based on a violation of the GPL\@ in the USA. While  lawsuits are of course

quite public, the vast majority of Conservancy's enforcement actions 

are resolved privately via

cooperative communications with violators.  As both FSF and Conservancy have worked to bring

individual companies into compliance, both organizations have encountered numerous

violations resulting from preventable problems such as inadequate

attention to licensing of upstream software, misconceptions about the

GPL's terms, and poor communication between software developers and their

management.  This document highlights these problems and describe

best practices to encourage corporate Free Software users to reevaluate their

approach to GPL'd software and avoid future violations.

Both FSF and Conservancy continue GPL enforcement and compliance efforts

for software under the GPL, the GNU Lesser

Public License (LGPL) and other copyleft licenses.  In doing so, both organizations have

found that most violations stem from a few common, avoidable mistakes.  All copyleft advocates  hope to educate the community of

commercial distributors, redistributors, and resellers on how to avoid

violations in the first place, and to respond adequately and appropriately

when a violation occurs.

%      Tutorial Text for the Detailed Study and Analysis of GPL and LGPL course

% License: CC-By-SA-4.0

% The copyright holders hereby grant the freedom to copy, modify, convey,

% Adapt, and/or redistribute this work under the terms of the Creative

% Commons Attribution Share Alike 4.0 International License.

% This text is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but

% WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of

% MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

% You should have received a copy of the license with this document in

% a file called 'CC-By-SA-4.0.txt'.  If not, please visit

% https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode to receive

% the license text.

\part{Case Studies in GPL Enforcement}

{\parindent 0in

This part is: \\

\begin{tabbing}

Copyright \= \copyright{} 2003, 2004, 2014 \hspace{1mm} \= \hspace{1.mm} \=  \kill

Copyright \> \copyright{} 2014 \>  Bradley M. Kuhn. \\

Copyright \> \copyright{} 2014 \>  Denver Gingerich \\

Copyright \> \copyright{} 2003, 2004, 2014 \> Free Software Foundation, Inc. \\

\end{tabbing}

\vspace{.2in}

\begin{center}

The copyright holders hereby grant the freedom to copy, modify, convey,

Adapt, and/or redistribute this work under the terms of the Creative Commons

Attribution Share Alike 4.0 International License.  A copy of that license is

available at \url{https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode}.

\end{center}

\vfill

CC-By-SA-licensed published works: \\

\begin{itemize}

\item \textit{Enforcement Case Studies}, written by Bradley M. Kuhn and published by the Free

  Software Foundation for its CLE courses  on 2004-01-20, 2004-08-24, and 2014-03-24.

\end{itemize}

However, this work is primarily composed of the many contributions it

receives as a public, collaborative project.  Please

\href{https://gitorious.org/copyleft-org/tutorial/history/master:enforcement-case-studies.tex}{review

  its Git logs} for full documentation of all contributions.

}

% =====================================================================

% START OF SECOND DAY SEMINAR SECTION

% =====================================================================

\chapter*{Preface}

This one-day course presents the details of five different GPL

compliance cases handled by FSF's GPL Compliance Laboratory. Each case

offers unique insights into problems that can arise when the terms of

the GPL are not properly followed, and how diplomatic negotiation between

the violator and the copyright holder can yield positive results for

both parties.

Attendees should have successfully completely the course, a ``Detailed

Study and Analysis of the GPL and LGPL,'' as the material from that

course forms the building blocks for this material.

This course is of most interest to lawyers who have clients or

employers that deal with Free Software on a regular basis. However,

technical managers and executives whose businesses use or distribute

Free Software will also find the course very helpful.

\bigskip

These course materials are merely a summary of the highlights of the

course presented. Please be aware that during the actual GPL course, class

discussion supplements this printed curriculum. Simply reading it is

not equivalent to attending the course.

%FIXME-LATER: write these

%\chapter{Not All GPL Enforcement is Created Equal}

%\section{For-Profit Enforcement}

%\section{Community and Non-Profit Enforcement}

\chapter{Overview of Community Enforcement}

The GPL is a Free Software license with legal teeth. Unlike licenses like

the X11-style or various BSD licenses, the GPL (and by extension, the LGPL) is

designed to defend as well as grant freedom. We saw in the last course

that the GPL uses copyright law as a mechanism to grant all the key freedoms

essential in Free Software, but also to ensure that those freedoms

propagate throughout the distribution chain of the software.

\section{Termination Begins Enforcement}

As we have learned, the assurance that Free Software under the GPL remains

Free Software is accomplished through various terms of the GPL: \S 3 ensures

that binaries are always accompanied with source; \S 2 ensures that the

sources are adequate, complete and usable; \S 6 and \S 7 ensure that the

license of the software is always the GPL for everyone, and that no other

legal agreements or licenses trump the GPL. It is \S 4, however, that ensures

that the GPL can be enforced.

Thus, \S 4 is where we begin our discussion of GPL enforcement. This

clause is where the legal teeth of the license are rooted. As a copyright

license, the GPL governs only the activities governed by copyright law ---

copying, modifying and redistributing computer software. Unlike most

copyright licenses, the GPL gives wide grants of permission for engaging with

these activities. Such permissions continue, and all parties may exercise

them until such time as one party violates the terms of the GPL\@. At the

moment of such a violation (i.e., the engaging of copying, modifying or

redistributing in ways not permitted by the GPL) \S 4 is invoked. While other

parties may continue to operate under the GPL, the violating party loses their

rights.

Specifically, \S 4 terminates the violators' rights to continue

engaging in the permissions that are otherwise granted by the GPL\@.

Effectively, their rights revert to the copyright defaults ---

no permission is granted to copy, modify, nor redistribute the work.

Meanwhile, \S 5 points out that if the violator has no rights under

the GPL, they are prohibited by copyright law from engaging in the

activities of copying, modifying and distributing. They have lost

these rights because they have violated the GPL, and no other license

gives them permission to engage in these activities governed by copyright law.

\section{Ongoing Violations}

In conjunction with \S 4's termination of violators' rights, there is

one final industry fact added to the mix: rarely does one engage in a

% gpl-lgpl.tex                                                  -*- LaTeX -*-

%      Tutorial Text for the Detailed Study and Analysis of GPL and LGPL course

%

% License: CC-By-SA-4.0

% The copyright holders hereby grant the freedom to copy, modify, convey,

% Adapt, and/or redistribute this work under the terms of the Creative

% Commons Attribution Share Alike 4.0 International License.

% This text is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but

% WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of

% MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

% You should have received a copy of the license with this document in

% a file called 'CC-By-SA-4.0.txt'.  If not, please visit

% https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode to receive

% the license text.

% FIXME-LATER: I should make a macro like the Texinfo @xref stuff for places

%      where I'm saying ``see section X in this tutorial'', so that the extra

%      verbiage isn't there in the HTML versions that I'll eventually do.

%      Maybe something like that already exists?  In the worst case, I could

%      adapt @xref from texinfo.texi for it.

\newcommand{\defn}[1]{\emph{#1}}

\part{Detailed Analysis of the GNU GPL and Related Licenses}

\label{gpl-lgpl-part}

{\parindent 0in

\tutorialpartsplit{``Detailed Analysis of the GNU GPL and Related Licenses''}{This part} is: \\

\begin{tabbing}

Copyright \= \copyright{} 2003--2007, 2014 \hspace{.1mm} \=  \kill

Copyright \> \copyright{} 2014 \> Bradley M. Kuhn \\

Copyright \> \copyright{} 2014 \>  Anthony K. Sebro, Jr. \\

Copyright \> \copyright{} 2003--2007, 2014 \>  Free Software Foundation, Inc. \\

Copyright \> \copyright{} 2014 \>  Software Freedom Law Center.

\end{tabbing}

\vspace{.2in}

\begin{center}

The copyright holders of \tutorialpartsplit{``Detailed Analysis of the GNU GPL and Related Licenses''}{this part} hereby grant the freedom to copy, modify,

convey, Adapt, and/or redistribute this work under the terms of the Creative

Commons Attribution Share Alike 4.0 International License.  A copy of that

license is available at

\verb=https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode=.

\end{center}

\vfill

CC-By-SA-licensed published works: \\

\begin{itemize}

\item \textit{Detailed Analysis of the GNU GPL and Related Licenses}, written by

Bradley M. Kuhn, Daniel B.~Ravicher, and John Sullivan and published by the Free Software Foundation for its CLE courses on 2004-01-20,

2004-08-24, and 2014-03-24.

\item \hrefnofollow{http://gplv3.fsf.org/gpl-rationale-2006-01-16.html}{\textit{GPLv3 First Discussion Draft Rationale}}, written and published by the Free

  Software Foundation on 2006-01-16.

\item \hrefnofollow{http://gplv3.fsf.org/opinions-draft-2.html}{\textit{GPLv3 Second Discussion Draft Rationale}}, written and published by the Free

  Software Foundation circa 2006-07.

\item \hrefnofollow{http://gplv3.fsf.org/gpl3-dd3-guide}{\textit{GPLv3 Third Discussion Draft Rationale}}, written and published by the Free

  Software Foundation on   2007-03-28.

\item \hrefnofollow{http://gplv3.fsf.org/dd3-faq}{\textit{GPLv3  Discussion Draft 3 FAQ}}, written and published by the Free1 Software Foundation on   2007-03-28.

\item \hrefnofollow{http://gplv3.fsf.org/gpl3-dd4-guide.html}{\textit{GPLv3 Final Discussion Draft Rationale}} written and published by the Free

  Software Foundation onon 2007-05-31.

\item \hrefnofollow{http://www.gnu.org/licences/gpl3-final-rationale.pdf}{\textit{GPLv3 Final Rationale}}, written and published by the Free

  Software Foundation on 2007-06-29.

\end{itemize}

However, this work is primarily composed of the many contributions it

receives as a public, collaborative project.  Please

\href{https://gitorious.org/copyleft-org/tutorial/history/master:gpl-lgpl.tex}{review

  its Git logs} for full documentation of all contributions.

}

\pagebreak

\tutorialpartsplit{This tutorial}{This part of the tutorial} gives a

comprehensive explanation of the most popular Free Software copyright

license, the GNU General Public License (``GNU GPL'', or sometimes just

``GPL'') -- both version 2 (``GPLv2'') and version 3 (``GPLv3'') -- and

teaches lawyers, software developers, managers and business people how to use

the GPL (and GPL'd software) successfully both as a community-building

``Constitution'' for a software project, and to incorporate copylefted

software into a new Free Software business and in existing, successful

enterprises.

To benefit from this part of the tutorial, readers should

have a general familiarity with software development processes.  A basic

understanding of how copyright law applies to software is also helpful.  The

tutorial is of most interest to lawyers, software developers and managers who

run or advise software businesses that modify and/or redistribute software

under the terms of the GNU GPL (or who wish to do so in the future), and those

who wish to make use of existing GPL'd software in their enterprise.

Upon completion of this part of the tutorial, readers can expect

to have learned the following:

\begin{itemize}

  \item The freedom-defending purpose of various terms in the GNU GPLv2 and GPLv3.

  \item The differences between GPLv2 and GPLv3.

  \item The redistribution options under the GPLv2 and GPLv3.

  \item The obligations when modifying GPLv2'd or GPLv3'd software.

  \item How to build a plan for proper and successful compliance with the GPL.

  \item The business advantages that the GPL provides.

  \item The most common business models used in conjunction with the GPL.

  \item How existing GPL'd software can be used in existing enterprises.

  \item The basics of LGPLv2.1 and LGPLv3, and how they

    differ from the GPLv2 and GPLv3, respectively.

  \item The basics to begin understanding the complexities regarding

    derivative and combined works of software.

\end{itemize}

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

% END OF ABSTRACTS SECTION

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

% START OF DAY ONE COURSE

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

\chapter{What Is Software Freedom?}

Study of the GNU General Public License (herein, abbreviated as \defn{GNU

  GPL} or just \defn{GPL}) must begin by first considering the broader world

of software freedom. The GPL was not created in a vacuum. Rather, it was

created to embody and defend a set of principles that were set forth at the

founding of the GNU project and the Free Software Foundation (FSF) -- the

preeminent organization that upholds, defends and promotes the philosophy of software

freedom. A prerequisite for understanding both of the popular versions

of the GPL

(GPLv2 and GPLv3) and their terms and conditions is a basic understanding of

the principles behind them.  The GPL family of licenses are unlike nearly all

other software licenses in that they are designed to defend and uphold these

principles.

\section{The Free Software Definition}

\label{Free Software Definition}