@@ -86,13 +86,13 @@ 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 enforcements in Europe, including
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
@@ -1284,13 +1284,13 @@ should ask:
\item If we follow your recommended compliance procedures, will you
formally indemnify us in case we are nonetheless found to be in
violation of the GPL?
\end{itemize}
This last point is particularly important. Many GPL enforcements are
This last point is particularly important. Many GPL enforcement actions are
escalated because of petty finger-pointing between the distributor and its
upstream. In our experience, agreements regarding GPL compliance issues
and procedures are rarely negotiated up front. However, when they are,
violations are resolved much more smoothly (at least from the point of
view of the redistributor).