From 20f2339a1f346564418f488f5f4ad9364f4e456d 2015-03-11 20:15:01
From: Bradley M. Kuhn <bkuhn@ebb.org>
Date: 2015-03-11 20:15:01
Subject: [PATCH] VMware Lawsuit FAQ entry: Why doesn't FSF enforce?

This FAQ and its answer explain why the FSF can't take care of
enforcement for this particular matter.

---

diff --git a/www/conservancy/static/linux-compliance/vmware-lawsuit-faq.html b/www/conservancy/static/linux-compliance/vmware-lawsuit-faq.html
index 02c03f83fdd5c7a7916a3cc529700a1710b48e79..9f219197a1da03cce8fdcd663767e376de96ced9 100644
--- a/www/conservancy/static/linux-compliance/vmware-lawsuit-faq.html
+++ b/www/conservancy/static/linux-compliance/vmware-lawsuit-faq.html
@@ -148,6 +148,23 @@
     </ul>
   </dd>
 
+<dt>I
+see <a href="https://fsf.org/news/conservancy-and-christoph-hellwig-gpl-enforcement-lawsuit">FSF's
+statement of support</a>, but why
+isn't <a href="https://www.fsf.org/licensing/compliance">FSF enforcing</a> in
+this case?</dt>
+
+<dd>While FSF are the authors and license steward of the GNU GPL, it's up to
+the copyright holder to enforce GPL.  VMware created an operating system by
+combining parts of the kernel named Linux with their own proprietary code,
+and then added BusyBox to provide the userspace operating system components.
+As such, ESXi is not
+a <a href="https://www.gnu.org/gnu/linux-and-gnu.html">traditional GNU/Linux
+system</a>.  FSF has many copyrights of its own, but these are almost
+exclusively on various parts of the GNU system, not on the kernel, Linux.  As
+such, FSF probably does not have copyright interests available to directly
+enforce the GPL regarding the primary issue in this case.</dd>
+
   <dt><em>I</em> care about copyleft and the GPL.  How can I help?</dt>
 
   <dd>Conservancy needs <a href="#donate-box" class="donate-now">your immediate financial