\section{Communication Is Key}

GPL violations are typically only escalated when a company ignores the

copyright holder's initial communication or fails to work toward timely

compliance.  Accused violators should respond very promptly to the

initial request.  As the process continues, violators should follow up weekly with the

copyright holders to make sure everyone agrees on targets and deadlines

for resolving the situation.

Ensure that any staff who might receive communications regarding alleged

GPL violations understands how to channel the communication appropriately

within your organization.  Often, initial contact is addressed for general

correspondence (e.g., by mail to corporate headquarters or by e-mail to

general informational or support-related addresses).  Train the staff that

processes such communications to escalate them to someone with authority

to take action.  An unknowledgable response to such an inquiry (e.g., from

a first-level technical support person) can cause negotiations to fail

prematurely.

Answer promptly by multiple means (paper letter, telephone call, and

email), even if your response merely notifies the sender that you are

investigating the situation and will respond by a certain date.  Do not

let the conversation lapse until the situation is fully resolved.

Proactively follow up with synchronous communication means to be sure

communications sent by non-reliable means (such as email) were received.

Remember that the software freedom community generally values open communication and

cooperation, and these values extend to GPL enforcement.  You will

generally find that software freedom developers and their lawyers are willing to

have a reasonable dialogue and will work with you to resolve a violation

once you open the channels of communication in a friendly way.

Furthermore, if the complaint comes from a CEGEO, assume they are

well-prepared.  CEGEO's fully investigate compliance issues before raising

the issue.  The claims and concerns will be substantiated, and immediate

denials will likely lead the CEGEO to suspect malice rather than honest

mistake.

However, the biggest and most perennial mistake that all CEGEOs see during

enforcement is this: failure to include the violators' software development

teams in the enforcement discussions and negotiations.  As described above,

CCS verification and approval is the most time-consuming and difficult part

of resolving most compliance matters.  Without direct contact between

software developers on both sides, the resolution of the technical issues

involved in demonstrating that the binary distributed was built from the

source provided is likely to be tortuous, expensive, and tense. Your lawyers

will certainly be understandably reluctant to expose your employees to direct

inquiry from potentially adverse parties.  However, facilitated exchanges of

information among software engineers communicating on technical subjects

shortens the time to resolution, substantially reduces the cost of reaching

resolution, and prevents unnecessary escalation due to mutual

misunderstanding.  Furthermore, such frank technical discussion will often be

the only way to avoid compliance litigation once a violation has occurred.

Fortunately, these frank discussions will improve your company's

relationships.  Free Software development communities improve software to

benefit everyone, which includes you and your company.  When you use

copylefted community software in your products, you are part of that

community.  Therefore, resolving a compliance matter is an occasion to

strengthen your relationship to the community, by increasing communication

between your developers and the project whose work you use for business

benefit.

\section{Termination}

Many redistributors overlook the GPL's termination provision (GPLv2~\S~4 and

GPLv3~\S~8).  Under v2, violators forfeit their rights to redistribute and

modify the GPL'd software until those rights are explicitly reinstated by

the copyright holder.  In contrast, v3 allows violators to rapidly resolve

some violations without consequence.

If you have redistributed an application under GPLv2\footnote{This applies

  to all programs licensed to you under only GPLv2 (``GPLv2-only'').

  However, most so-called GPLv2 programs are actually distributed with

  permission to redistribute under GPLv2 \emph{or any later version of the

    GPL} (``GPLv2-or-later'').  In the latter cases, the redistributor can

  choose to redistribute under GPLv2, GPLv3, GPLv2-or-later or even

  GPLv3-or-later.  Where the redistributor has chosen v2 explicitly, the

  v2 termination provision will always apply.  If the redistributor has

  chosen v3, the v3 termination provision will always apply.  If the

  redistributor has chosen GPLv2-or-later, then the redistributor may want

  to narrow to GPLv3-only upon violation, to take advantage of the

  termination provisions in v3.}, but have violated the terms of GPLv2,

you must request a reinstatement of rights from the copyright holders

before making further distributions, or else cease distribution and

modification of the software forever.  Different copyright holders

condition reinstatement upon different requirements, and these

requirements can be (and often are) wholly independent of the GPL\@.  The

terms of your reinstatement will depend upon what you negotiate with the

copyright holder of the GPL'd program.

Since your rights under GPLv2 terminate automatically upon your initial

violation, \emph{all your subsequent distributions} are violations and

infringements of copyright.  Therefore, even if you resolve a violation on

your own, you must still seek a reinstatement of rights from the copyright

holders whose licenses you violated, lest you remain liable for

infringement for even compliant distributions made subsequent to the

initial violation.

GPLv3 is more lenient.  If you have distributed only v3-licensed programs,

you may be eligible under v3~\S~8 for automatic reinstatement of rights.

You are eligible for automatic reinstatement when:

\begin{itemize}

\item you correct the violation and are not contacted by a copyright

  holder about the violation within sixty days after the correction, or

\item you receive, from a copyright holder, your first-ever contact

  regarding a GPL violation, and you correct that violation within thirty

  days of receipt of copyright holder's notice.

\end{itemize}

In addition to these permanent reinstatements provided under v3, violators

who voluntarily correct their violation also receive provisional

permission to continue distributing until they receive contact from the

copyright holder.  If sixty days pass without contact, that reinstatement

becomes permanent.  Nonetheless, you should be prepared to cease

distribution during those initial sixty days should you receive a

termination notice from the copyright holder.

Given that much discussion of v3 has focused on its so-called more

complicated requirements, it should be noted that v3 is, in this regard,

more favorable to violators than v2.

However, note that most Linux-based systems typically include some software

licensed under GPLv2-only, and thus the copyright holders have withheld

permission to redistribute under terms of GPLv3.  In larger aggregate

distributions which include GPLv2-only works (such as the kernel named

Linux), redistributors must operate as if termination is immediate and

permanent, since the technological remove of GPLv2-only works from the larger

distribution requires much more engineering work than the negotiation

required to seek restoration of rights for distribution under GPLv2-only

after permanent termination.

\chapter{Standard Requests}

As we noted above, different copyright holders have different requirements

for reinstating a violator's distribution rights.  Upon violation, you no

longer have a license under the GPL\@.  Copyright holders can therefore

set their own requirements outside the license before reinstatement of

rights.  We have collected below a list of reinstatement demands that

copyright holders often require.

\begin{itemize}

\item {\bf Compliance on all Free Software copyrights}.  Copyright holders of Free Software

  often want a company to demonstrate compliance for all GPL'd software in

  a distribution, not just their own.  A copyright holder may refuse to

  reinstate your right to distribute one program unless and until you

  comply with the licenses of all Free Software in your distribution.

\item {\bf Notification to past recipients}.  Users to whom you previously

  distributed non-compliant software should receive a communication

  (email, letter, bill insert, etc.) indicating the violation, describing

  their rights under the GPL, and informing them how to obtain a gratis source

  distribution.  If a customer list does not exist (such as in reseller

  situations), an alternative form of notice may be required (such as a

  magazine advertisement).

\item {\bf Appointment of a GPL Compliance Officer.}  The software freedom community

  values personal accountability when things go wrong.  Copyright holders

  often require that you name someone within the violating company

  officially responsible for Free Software license compliance, and that this

  individual serve as the key public contact for the community when

  compliance concerns arise.

\item {\bf Periodic Compliance Reports.}  Many copyright holders wish to

  monitor future compliance for some period of time after the violation.

  For some period, your company may be required to send regular reports on

  how many distributions of binary and source have occurred.

\end{itemize}

These are just a few possible requirements for reinstatement.  In the

context of a GPL violation, and particularly under v2's termination

provision, the copyright holder may have a range of requests in exchange

for reinstatement of rights.  These software developers are talented

professionals from whose work your company has benefited.  Indeed, you are

unlikely to find a better value or more generous license terms for similar

software elsewhere.  Treat the copyright holders with the same respect you

treat your corporate partners and collaborators.

\chapter{Special Topics in Compliance}

There are several other issues that are less common, but also relevant in

a GPL compliance situation.  To those who face them, they tend to be of

particular interest.

\section{LGPL Compliance}

\label{lgpl}

GPL compliance and LGPL compliance mostly involve the same issues.  As we

discussed in \S~\ref{derivative-works}, questions of modified versions of

overview document.  The LGPL adds some additional complexity to the

analysis.  Namely, the various LGPL versions permit proprietary licensing

(in accordance with LGPLv3) what part of the work is the ``Application''

and what portions of the source are ``Minimal Corresponding Source'', then

``Minimal Corresponding Source''.

LGPL also requires that you provide a mechanism to combine the Application

with a modified version of the library, and outlines some options for

this.  Also, the license of the whole work must permit ``reverse

engineering for debugging such modifications'' to the library.  Therefore,

you should take care that the EULA used for the Application does not

contradict this permission.

%FIXME-URGENT: integrate

Under the terms of LGPL, they must also refrain from license terms on works

based on the licensed work that prohibit replacement of the licensed

components of the larger non-LGPL’d work, or prohibit decompilation or

reverse engineering in order to enhance or fix bugs in the LGPL’d components.

Section 2(a) states that if a licensed work is a software library (defined in

\S0 as ``a collection of software functions and/or data prepared so as to be

conveniently linked with application programs (which use some of those

functions and data) to form executables'') permission is given to distribute

modified versions only if those versions are themselves libraries. LGPLv2.1

code can therefore not be compliantly taken from its context in a library and

placed in a non-library modified version or work based on the work. Section 6

does not provide an exception for this rule: a combination may be made of a

modified version of an LGPL’d library with other code, but the LGPL’d code

must continue to be structured as a library, and to that library the terms of

the license continue to apply.

%FIXME-URGENT: END

\section{Upstream Providers}

\label{upstream}

With ever-increasing frequency, software development (particularly for

embedded devices) is outsourced to third parties.  If you rely on an

upstream provider for your software, note that you \emph{cannot ignore

  your GPL compliance requirements} simply because someone else packaged

the software that you distribute.  If you redistribute GPL'd software

(which you do, whenever you ship a device with your upstream's software in

it), you are bound by the terms of the GPL\@.  No distribution (including

redistribution) is permissible absent adherence to the license terms.

Therefore, you should introduce a due diligence process into your software

acquisition plans.  This is much like the software-oriented

recommendations we make in \S~\ref{best-practices}.  Implementing

practices to ensure that you are aware of what software is in your devices

can only improve your general business processes.  You should ask a clear

list of questions of all your upstream providers and make sure the answers

are complete and accurate.  The following are examples of questions you

should ask:

\begin{itemize}

\item What are all the licenses that cover the software in this device?

\item From which upstream vendors, be they companies or individuals, did

  \emph{you} receive your software before distributing it to us?

\item What are your GPL compliance procedures?

\item If there is GPL'd software in your distribution, we will be

  redistributors of this GPL'd software.  What mechanisms do you have in

  place to aid us with compliance?

\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

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).

Consider the cost of potential violations in your acquisition process.

Using Free Software allows software vendors to reduce costs significantly, but be

wary of vendors who have done so without regard for the licenses.  If your

vendor's costs seem ``too good to be true,'' you may ultimately bear the

burden of the vendor's inattention to GPL compliance.  Ask the right

questions, demand an account of your vendors' compliance procedures, and

seek indemnity from them.

% FIXME-URGENT: integrate

In such instances it is advisable that you exercise your own rights as a user

to request C\&CS for all the GPL programs that your suppliers provided to you,

preferably in an automated process. Once you receive such C\&CS, passing it

along with your product will ensure your compliance with the license.

% FIXME-URGENT: Needs a new section

% \section{Mergers and Acquisitions}

[GPLv3] Section 10 also clarifies that in business acquisitions, whether by

sale of assets or transfers of control, the acquiring party is downstream

from the party acquired. This results in new automatic downstream licenses

from upstream copyright holders, licenses to all modifications made by the

acquired business, and rights to source code provisioning for the

now-downstream purchaser.

In our experience, the process whereby these matters are adjusted in most M\&A

situations are ludicrously expensive and inefficient. A simple waiver and

release of all claims to GPL compliance against the purchased entity by the

purchaser, issued before closure, removes the problem. If the purchasing

entity has adequate software governance systems in place, all software

acquired in the course of the entity transaction is input to the standard

governance processes for acquired software, and downstream compliance by the

new merged entity is automatically handled.

%FIXME-URGENT: END

\section{User Products and Installation Information}

\label{user-products}

GPLv3 requires you to provide ``Installation Information'' when v3

software is distributed in a ``User Product.''  During the drafting of v3,

the debate over this requirement was contentious.  However, the provision

as it appears in the final license is reasonable and easy to understand.

If you put GPLv3'd software into a User Product (as defined by the

license) and \emph{you} have the ability to install modified versions onto

that device, you must provide information that makes it possible for the

user to install functioning, modified versions of the software.  Note that

if no one, including you, can install a modified version, this provision

does not apply.  For example, if the software is burned onto an

non-field-upgradable ROM chip, and the only way that chip can be upgraded

is by producing a new one via a hardware factory process, then it is

acceptable that the users cannot electronically upgrade the software

themselves.

Furthermore, you are permitted to refuse support service, warranties, and

software updates to a user who has installed a modified version.  You may

even forbid network access to devices that behave out of specification due

to such modifications.  Indeed, this permission fits clearly with usual

industry practice.  While it is impossible to provide a device that is

completely unmodifiable\footnote{Consider that the iPhone, a device

  designed primarily to restrict users' freedom to modify it, was unlocked

  and modified within 48 hours of its release.}, users are generally on

notice that they risk voiding their warranties and losing their update and

support services when they make modifications.\footnote{A popular t-shirt

  in the software freedom community reads: ``I void warranties.''.  Our community is

  well-known for modifying products with full knowledge of the

  consequences.  GPLv3's ``Installation Instructions'' section merely

  confirms that reality, and makes sure GPL rights can be fully exercised,

  even if users exercise those rights at their own peril.}

GPLv3 is in many ways better for distributors who seek some degree of

device lock-down.  Technical processes are always found for subverting any

lock-down; pursuing it is a losing battle regardless.  With GPLv3, unlike

with GPLv2, the license gives you clear provisions that you can rely on

when you are forced to cut off support, service or warranty for a customer

who has chosen to modify.

% FIXME-soon: write a full section on Javascript compliance.  Here's a

%             potentially useful one-sentence introduction for such a

%             section.

% Non-compliance with GPLv3 in the

% distribution of Javascript on the Web is becoming more frequent

%FIXME-soon: END

% FIXME-URGENT: integrate, and rewrite so it doesn't laud behavior that is

% ultimately problematic.

\section{FIXME}

companies have often formed beneficial consulting or employment relationships

with project developers they first encountered through compliance

inquiries. In some cases, working together to alter the mode of use of the

project’s code in the company’s products was an explicit element in dispute

resolution. More often, the communication channels opened in the course of

the inquiry served other and more fruitful purposes later.

%FIXME-URGENT: END

\chapter{Conclusion}

GPL compliance need not be an onerous process.  Historically, struggles

have been the result of poor development methodologies and communications,

rather than any unexpected application of the GPL's source code disclosure

requirements.

Compliance is straightforward when the entirety of your enterprise is

well-informed and well-coordinated.  The receptionists should know how to

route a GPL source request or accusation of infringement.  The lawyers

should know the basic provisions of Free Software licenses and your source

disclosure requirements, and should explain those details to the software

developers.  The software developers should use a version control system

that allows them to associate versions of source with distributed

binaries, have a well-documented build process that anyone skilled in the

art can understand, and inform the lawyers when they bring in new