Changeset - a772f7fa2886
[Not reviewed]
Merge
0 6 8
eximious - 4 years ago 2019-09-11 16:41:40
deb@seagl.org
Merge branch 'master' of ssh://k.sfconservancy.org/website
5 files changed:
0 comments (0 inline, 0 general)
www/conservancy/static/about/staff/index.html
Show inline comments
 
{% extends "base_about.html" %}
 
{% block subtitle %}Staff - {% endblock %}
 
{% block submenuselection %}Staff{% endblock %}
 
{% block content %}
 
<h1>Staff</h1>
 

	
 
<h2 id="karen">Karen M. Sandler - Executive Director</h2>
 

	
 
<p>Karen M. Sandler is the executive director of Conservancy. Karen is known
 
as a cyborg lawyer for her advocacy for free software, particularly in
 
relation to the software on medical devices. Prior to joining Conservancy,
 
she was executive director of the GNOME Foundation. Before that, she was
 
general counsel of the Software Freedom Law Center. Karen
 
co-organizes <a href="http://www.outreachy.org">Outreachy</a>, the
 
award-winning outreach program for women globally and for people of color
 
who are underrepresented in US tech. She is also pro bono counsel to the FSF
 
and GNOME. Karen is a recipient of the O’Reilly Open Source Award and cohost
 
of the oggcast <a href="http://faif.us/">Free as in Freedom</a>.</p>
 

	
 
<p>Karen received her law degree from Columbia Law School in 2000, where she
 
was a James Kent Scholar and co-founder of the Columbia Science and
 
Technology Law Review. Karen received her bachelor’s degree in engineering
 
from The Cooper Union.</p>
 

	
 
<h2 id="bkuhn">Bradley M. Kuhn - President and Distinguished Technologist</h2>
 

	
 
<p><a href="http://ebb.org/bkuhn/">Bradley M. Kuhn</a> is the President and
 
Distinguished Technologist at <a href="https://sfconservancy.org/">Software
 
Freedom Conservancy</a> and editor-in-chief
 
of <a href="https://copyleft.org">copyleft.org</a>. Kuhn began his work in
 
the software freedom movement as a volunteer in 1992, when he became an early
 
adopter of the GNU/Linux operating system, and began contributing to various
 
Free Software projects.  He worked during the 1990s as a system administrator
 
and software developer for various companies, and taught AP Computer Science
 
at Walnut Hills High School in Cincinnati.  Kuhn's non-profit career began in
 
2000, when he was hired by the Free Software Foundation (FSF).  As FSF's
 
Executive Director from 2001&ndash;2005, Kuhn
 
led <a href="https://www.fsf.org/licensing">FSF's GPL enforcement</a>,
 
launched <a href="https://www.fsf.org/associate/">its Associate Member
 
program</a>, and invented
 
the <a href="http://www.gnu.org/licenses/agpl-3.0.html">Affero GPL</a>.  Kuhn
 
was appointed President of Software Freedom Conservancy in April 2006, was
 
Conservancy's primary volunteer from 2006&ndash;2010, and has been a
 
full-time staffer since early 2011.  Kuhn holds a summa cum laude B.S. in
 
Computer Science
 
from <a href="http://www.loyola.edu/academic/computerscience">Loyola
 
University in Maryland</a>, and an M.S. in Computer Science from
 
the <a href="http://www.cs.uc.edu/">University of
 
Cincinnati</a>.  <a href="http://www.ebb.org/bkuhn/articles/thesis/">Kuhn's
 
Master's thesis</a> discussed methods for dynamic interoperability of Free
 
Software programming languages.  Kuhn received
 
the <a href="http://www.oscon.com/oscon2012/public/schedule/detail/25039">O'Reilly
 
Open Source Award in 2012</a>, in recognition for his lifelong policy work on
 
copyleft licensing.  Kuhn has <a href="http://ebb.org/bkuhn/blog/">a blog</a>
 
and co-hosts the audcast, <a href="http://faif.us/"><cite>Free as in
 
Freedom</cite></a>.</p>
 

	
 
<h2 id="brett">Brett Smith - Director of Strategic Initiatives</h2>
 
<p>Brett Smith began his FLOSS advocacy in 2000 at college, organizing
 
student groups and discussing the issues with professors and journalists.  He
 
also spent a couple of those summers interning at the Free Software
 
Foundation, and working in various assisting roles there when he returned to
 
campus.  Later on he worked as the FSF's License Compliance Engineer from
 
2006-2012, helping to shepherd the GPLv3 drafting process and do outreach
 
after the license was released.  From there, he worked as a Systems Engineer
 
at the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and
 
an <a href="https://arvados.org/">Arvados</a> maintainer at Curoverse before
 
joining Conservancy as Director of Strategic Initiatives in 2016.  He holds a
 
BS in Computer Science from the University of Kentucky.</p>
 

	
 
<h2 id="deb">Deb Nicholson - Director of Community Operations</h2>
 
<p>Deb Nicholson is the Director of Community Operations at the Software Freedom Conservancy where she supports the work of its member projects and facilitates collaboration with the wider free and open source software community. After years of local organizing on free speech, marriage equality, government transparency and access to the political process, she joined the free software movement in 2006. While working for the <a href="https://www.fsf.org/">Free Software Foundation</a>, she created the Women&rsquo;s Caucus to increase recruitment and retention of women in the free software community. She piloted messaging and directed outreach activities at the Open Invention Network, a shared defensive patent pool for free and open source software. She won the O’Reilly Open Source Award for her work as <a href="https://mediagoblin.org/">GNU MediaGoblin</a>&lsquo;s Community Liaison and as a founding board member at <a href="https://blog.openhatch.org/2017/celebrating-our-successes-and-winding-down-as-an-organization/">OpenHatch</a>. She also continues to serve as a founding organizer of the <a href="http://seagl.org/">Seattle GNU/Linux Conference</a>, an annual event dedicated to surfacing new voices and welcoming new people to the free software community.</p>
 

	
 
<p>Deb received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Bradford College and lives with her husband and her lucky black cat in Cambridge, Massachusetts.</p>
 

	
 
<h2 id="denver">Denver Gingerich - FLOSS License Compliance Engineer</h2>
 

	
 
<p>
 
Denver works part-time managing the technical side of Conservancy's
 
license compliance work, triaging new reports and verifying complete and
 
corresponding source (C&amp;CS).  His roles elsewhere have recently
 
included financial trading software development on GNU/Linux and
 
previously involved writing system software for hardware companies,
 
including driver writing for the kernel named Linux at ATI (now AMD) and
 
Qualcomm.  He founded a company that designs and builds magnetic stripe
 
readers for security hobbyists where he designed the hardware and
 
developed the device's tools and firmware, which are both free software.
 
Denver also writes free software in his spare time, with patches accepted
 
into Wine, the kernel named Linux, and GNU wdiff.  Denver received his
 
BMath in Computer Science from the University of Waterloo.  He gives presentations
 
about digital civil rights and protecting the free software ecosystem,
 
having spoken at conferences such as CopyCamp Toronto, FOSSLC's
 
Summercamp, and the Open Video Conference.</p>
 

	
 
<h2 id="dimesio">Rosanne DiMesio - Technical Bookkeeper</h2>
 

	
 
<p>Rosanne DiMesio is the Technical Bookkeeper at the Software Freedom
 
Conservancy where she handles incoming and outgoing accounting
 
activities for all its member projects as well as financial operations
 
for Conservancy itself. Rosanne has been volunteering with the Wine
 
Project since 2008 where she focuses on user support and documentation.
 
She has worked as an English teacher, a freelance writer and as IT
 
support. She is passionate about helping free software projects improve
 
their user experience. Rosanne received her Masters in Communication &amp;
 
Theater at the University of Illinois at Chicago and her Bachelor&rsquo;s
 
degree in English from the University of Chicago.</p>
 

	
 
{% endblock %}
www/conservancy/static/copyleft-compliance/about.html
Show inline comments
 
{% extends "base_compliance.html" %}
 
{% block subtitle %}Copyleft Compliance Projects - {% endblock %}
 
{% block submenuselection %}AboutCompliance{% endblock %}
 
{% block content %}
 
<h1>Conservancy's Copyleft Compliance Projects</h1>
 
<h1 id="ourwork">Conservancy's Copyleft Compliance Projects</h1>
 

	
 
<p>Free and open source software is
 
        everywhere and in everything; yet our software freedom is constantly
 
        eroded.  With the help of its volunteers, <a href="/members/current/">member projects</a>, and <a href="/about/staff/">staff</a>,
 
  Conservancy stands up for users' software freedom via its copyleft compliance work.</p>
 

	
 
<p>Conservancy engages in copyleft compliance work in two different ways: by acting directly
 
on behalf of <a href="/projects/">Conservancy's Member Projects</a> who request
 
Free and Open Source License compliance efforts, and for
 
specific, targeted member projects for communities of developers.</p>
 

	
 
<p>Conservancy's Copyleft Compliance Projects are run in a collaborative manner with
 
the project developers.  All copyright holders involved have the opportunity
 
to give input and guidance on Conservancy's strategy in dealing with
 
compliance issues.  Thus, all Conservancy's compliance matter have full
 
  support of relevant copyright holders.</p>
 

	
 
<p>In addition to taking feedback internally from those who participate as
 
  part of the coalitions described below, Conservancy also welcomes feedback
 
  and discussion with the general public about our copyleft compliance
 
  efforts.  This discussion happens on
 
  Conservancy's <a href="https://lists.sfconservancy.org/mailman/listinfo/principles-discuss">principles-discuss</a>
 
  mailing list, which is named
 
  for <a href="/copyleft-compliance/principles.html">Principles of
 
  Community-Oriented GPL Enforcement</a> which Conservancy follows in all our
 
  copyleft compliance.</p>
 

	
 
<h2>Compliance Project For Our Fiscally Sponsored Projects</h2>
 
<h2 id="projects">Compliance Project For Our Fiscally Sponsored Projects</h2>
 

	
 
<p>Historically, Conservancy was well-known for its ongoing license
 
compliance efforts on behalf of its BusyBox member project.  Today, Conservancy
 
does semi-regular compliance work for its BusyBox, Evergreen, Git, Inkscape, Mercurial,
 
Samba, Sugar Labs, QEMU and Wine member projects.  If you are a copyright holder
 
in any member project of Conservancy, please contact the project's leadership committtee,
 
via <a href="mailto:PROJECTNAME@sfconservancy.org">&lt;PROJECTNAME@sfconservancy.org&gt;</a>
 
for more information on getting involved in compliance efforts in that project.
 
</p>
 

	
 
<h2 id="linux">GPL Compliance Project For Linux Developers</h2>
 

	
 
<p>In May
 
2012, <a href="/news/2012/may/29/compliance/">Conservancy
 
launched</a> the <cite>GPL
 
Compliance Project for Linux Developers</cite>, which handles compliance and
 
enforcement activities on behalf of more than a dozen Linux copyright
 
holders.</p>
 
 
 
<p>The GPL Compliance Project for Linux Developers is comprised of copyright
 
holders in the kernel, Linux, who have contributed to Linux under its
 
license, <a href="http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html">the
 
GPLv2</a>. These copyright holders have formally asked Conservancy to engage
 
in compliance efforts for their copyrights in the Linux kernel.  In addition,
 
some developers have directly assigned their copyrights on Linux to Conservancy,
 
so Conservancy also enforces the GPL on Linux via its own copyrights in Linux.</p>
 

	
 
<p>Linux copyright holders who wish to assign copyright to or sign an enforcement agreement with
 
Conservancy should
 
  contact <a href="mailto:linux-services@sfconservancy.org">&lt;linux-services@sfconservancy.org&gt;</a>.
 
  In 2016,
 
  Conservancy <a href="/news/2016/nov/03/linux-compliance-agreements/">made
 
    public the template agreements used as part of this project</a>; both the
 
  <a href="/docs/blank_linux-enforcement-agreement.pdf">non-anonymous</a> and
 
  <a href="/docs/blank_anonymous-linux-enforcement-agreement.pdf">anonymous</a>
 
  versions are available.  However, please <strong>do not</strong> sign these
 
  unilaterally without contacting and discussing
 
  with <a href="mailto:linux-services@sfconservancy.org">&lt;linux-services@sfconservancy.org&gt;</a>
 
  first.</p>
 

	
 

	
 
<h2 id="debian">The Debian Copyright Aggregation Project</h2>
 

	
 
<p>In August 2015, <a href="/news/2015/aug/17/debian/">Conservancy announced the Debian Copyright Aggregation
 
Project</a>.  This project allows Debian contributors to assign copyrights to
 
Conservancy, or sign enforcement agreements allowing Conservancy to enforce
 
Free and Open Source (FOSS) licenses on their behalf.  Many Debian contributors
 
have chosen each of these options already, and more continue to join.</p>
 

	
 
<p>Debian contributors who wish to assign copyright to or sign an enforcement agreement with
 
Conservancy should contact <a href="mailto:debian-services@sfconservancy.org">&lt;debian-services@sfconservancy.org&gt;</a>.</p>
 

	
 
<h2>Conservancy's Commitment to Copyleft License Compliance</h2>
 
<h2 id="commitment">Conservancy's Commitment to Copyleft License Compliance</h2>
 

	
 
<p>Conservancy is dedicated to encouraging all users of software to comply
 
  with Free Software licenses. Toward this goal, in its compliance efforts,
 
  Conservancy helps distributors of Free Software in a friendly spirit of
 
  cooperation and participation.  In this spirit, Conservancy has co-published,
 
  with the Free Software Foundation (FSF), <a href="/copyleft-compliance/principles.html">the principles that both organizations
 
  follow in their compliance efforts</a>.
 
  Also in collaboration with the FSF, Conservancy also sponsors
 
  the <a href="https://copyleft.org/guide/"><cite>Copyleft and the GNU
 
  General Public License:A Comprehensive Tutorial and Guide</cite></a>,
 
  which <a href="/news/2014/nov/07/copyleft-org/">formally
 
  launched in fall 2014</a>.  The Guide includes tutorial materials about
 
  copyleft and compliance with copyleft licenses,
 
  including <a href="https://copyleft.org/guide/comprehensive-gpl-guidepa2.html"><cite>A
 
  Practical Guide to GPL Compliance</cite></a>.  The materials
 
  on <a href="https://copyleft.org/">copyleft.org</a> have been developed and
 
  improved since 2002, and are themselves copylefted, and developed
 
  collaboratively in public.</p>
 

	
 
<p>However, the Guide is admittedly a large document, so for those who are
 
  interested in a short summary of describing how Conservancy handles GPL
 
  enforcement and compliance
 
  work, <a href="/blog/2012/feb/01/gpl-enforcement/">this
 
  blog post outlining the compliance process</a> is likely the best source.</p>
 

	
 
<h2>Reporting GPL Violations To Us</h2>
 
<h2 id="reporting">Reporting GPL Violations To Us</h2>
 

	
 
<p>If you are aware of a license violation or compliance issue regarding
 
  Debian, Linux, or
 
  any <a href="/members/current/">Conservancy member
 
  project</a> (&mdash; in particular BusyBox, Evergreen, Inkscape, Mercurial,
 
  Samba, Sugar Labs, or Wine),
 
  please <a href="mailto:compliance@sfconservancy.org">contact us by email at
 
    &lt;compliance@sfconservancy.org&gt;</a>.</p>
 

	
 
<p>If you think you've found a GPL violation, we encourage you to
 
   read <a href="http://ebb.org/bkuhn/blog/2009/11/08/gpl-enforcement.html">this
 
   personal blog post by our Distinguished Technologist, Bradley M. Kuhn</a>,
 
   about good practices in discovering and reporting GPL violations.  (We'd
 
   also like someone to convert the text of that blog post into a patch for
 
   <a href="http://compliance.guide">The Compliance Guide on
 
   copyleft.org</a>; submit it
 
   via <a href="https://k.copyleft.org/guide/">k.copyleft.org</a>.)</p>
 
   
 
<h2>Donate to Support This Work</h2>
 
<h2 id="support">Donate to Support This Work</h2>
 

	
 
<p>Finally, Conservancy welcomes <a href="#donate-box"
 
  class="donate-now">donations</a> in support of our GPL Compliance Projects,
 
  and we encourage you to become a <a href="/supporter/">an official
 
  Supporter of Software Freedom Conservancy</a>. </p>
 
</div>
 
{% endblock %}
www/conservancy/static/copyleft-compliance/vmware-lawsuit-appeal.html
Show inline comments
 
{% extends "base_compliance.html" %}
 
{% block subtitle %}Copyleft Compliance Projects - {% endblock %}
 
{% block submenuselection %}VMwareLawsuitAppeal{% endblock %}
 
{% block content %}
 
<h2>The time has come to stand up for the GPL.</h2>
 

	
 
<p><strong>Update 2019-04-02:</strong> Please
 
  see <a href="https://sfconservancy.org/news/2019/apr/02/vmware-no-appeal/">this
 
  announcement regarding conclusion of the VMware suit in Germany</a>.  Since the suit has
 
  concluded, any funds you donate here will support our ongoing compliance efforts.  The
 
  remaining material below is left as it was before that announcement:</p>
 

	
 
<p><em>In March 2015, Conservancy <a href="/news/2015/mar/05/vmware-lawsuit/">announced Christoph Hellwig's
 
    lawsuit against VMware in Germany</a>.  In July 2016,
 
    we <a href="/news/2016/aug/09/vmware-appeal/">announced that Christoph
 
    would appeal the lower court's ruling</a>.</p>
 
    Support Conservancy's and Christoph's efforts in this area
 
    by <a href="/supporter/">becoming a Conservancy
 
    supporter</a> or <a href="#donate-box" class="donate-now">donating via
 
    the link on the right</a>.</em></p>
 

	
 

	
 
<p>We were told to ask nicely and repeatedly, so we did.</p>
 

	
 
<p>We asked allies to help us make contact in friendly and professional
 
  ways.</p>
 

	
 
<p>Everyone asked us to give companies as many chances as possible and as
 
  much help as possible to comply with copyleft, so we did.</p>
 

	
 
<p>We've worked for years to help VMware comply with the GPL, but they
 
refuse. Negotiations broke down for the last time when they insisted on an 
 
NDA just to discuss settlement terms!</p>
 

	
 
<p>Christoph is among the most active developers of Linux.  As of Feburary 
 
19, 2015, Christoph has contributed 279,653 lines of code to the Linux kernel, 
 
and ranks 20th among the 1,340 developers involved in the latest 3.19 kernel 
 
release.  Christoph also
 
ranks 4th among those who have reviewed third-party source code, tirelessly
 
corrected and commented on other developers' contributions.  Christoph
 
licenses his code to the public under the terms of the GPL for practical and
 
ideological reasons.  VMware, a company with net revenue of over $1 billion
 
and over 14,000 employees, ignored Christoph's choice.  They took Christoph's
 
code from Linux and modified it to work with their own kernel without releasing
 
source code of the resulting complete work.  This is precisely the kind of
 
activity Christoph and other kernel developers seek to prevent by choosing
 
the GPL.  The GPL was written to prevent this specific scenario!</p>
 

	
 
<h3>This is a matter of principle.</h3>
 

	
 
<p>Free and open source software is everywhere and in everything; yet our
 
  software freedom is constantly eroded.</p>
 

	
 
<p>We want companies to incorporate our software into new products, but there
 
are a few simple rules.  Copylefted free software is so prevalent because
 
there's no way a company can compete without using a significant amount of
 
free software to bring products to market in reasonable time. They get so
 
much benefit from our work.  Allowing the whole community to review, use,
 
improve and work with the code seems very little to ask in return.  Copyleft
 
also ensures competitors cannot undercut those who contribute.  Without active enforcement, the GPL is
 
effectively no different from a non-copyleft license.</p>
 

	
 
<p>What point is there for companies to make sure that they're compliant if
 
there are no consequences when the GPL is violated? Many will continue to
 
ignore the rules without enforcement.  We know that there are so many
 
companies that willingly comply and embrace GPL as part of their business.
 
Some are temporarily out of compliance and need to be brought up to speed,
 
but willingly comply once they realize there is an issue.  Sadly, VMware sits
 
in the rare but infamous class of perpetually non-compliant companies. VMware
 
has been aware of their noncompliance for years but actively refuses to do
 
the right thing.  Help us do right by those who take the code in the spirit
 
it was given and comply with copyleft, and stop those don't.</p>
 

	
 
<p>We know that copyleft isn't a favorite licensing strategy for some in our
 
community.  Even so, this case will help bring clarity on the question of
 
combined and derivative works, and is essential to the future of all software
 
freedom.  This case deserves support from copyleft and non-copyleft free
 
software communities alike.</p>
 

	
 
<h3>Show you care</h3>
 

	
 
<p>Bad actors have become complacent because they think you don't care.  A
 
  strong show of public support for Conservancy and Christoph's position will
 
  help our legal case and demonstrate the interpretive context for it.
 
  Please <a href="#donate-box" class="donate-now">donate</a> to our campaign to enforce the GPL.  Help Conservancy
 
  increase its number of individual donors, so we have clear evidence to show
 
  bad actors that the GPL matters to the individuals in our community.
 
  After you <a href="#donate-box" class="donate-now">donate</a>, go and tell the world: &ldquo;Play by the rules, @VMware. I defend the #GPL with Christoph &amp; @Conservancy. #DTRTvmware  Help at https://sfconservancy.org/supporter/ &rdquo; on your blog or microblog.
 
  </p>
 

	
 

	
 
<h3>Isn't the combined works and/or derivative works question a legal grey area?</h3>
 

	
 
<p>We don't think so, but this case will let the court to decide that question.
 
Either way, it's beneficial to our entire community to find out what the
 
judges think.  (Check out our <a href="/copyleft-compliance/vmware-lawsuit-faq.html">FAQ to find out more
 
information</a>.)</p>
 

	
 
<p>Help us pay for this expensive lawsuit and to generally defend software
 
  freedom and the GPL.  Help us show the world that copyleft matters.  We are excited 
 
  to announce that we already reached an anonymous match for this campaign, where every dollar donated 
 
  was matched up to $50,000. However, that $100,000 is just an initial step
 
  and there is so much GPL enforcement work to do.  So, please
 
  donate now: by becoming <a href="/supporter/">a Conservancy Supporter</a> or
 
  via <a href="#donate-box" class="donate-now">donate link on the right</a>.</p>
 

	
 
<h3>Want To Know More?</h3>
 

	
www/conservancy/static/copyleft-compliance/vmware-lawsuit-faq.html
Show inline comments
 
{% extends "base_compliance.html" %}
 
{% block subtitle %}Copyleft Compliance Projects - {% endblock %}
 
{% block submenuselection %}VMwareLawsuitFAQ{% endblock %}
 
{% block content %}
 
<h1>Frequently Asked Questions about Christoph Hellwig's VMware Lawsuit</h1>
 

	
 
<p><strong>Update 2019-04-02:</strong> Please
 
  see <a href="https://sfconservancy.org/news/2019/apr/02/vmware-no-appeal/">this
 
  announcement regarding conclusion of the VMware suit in Germany</a>.  Since the suit has
 
  concluded, any funds you donate here will support our ongoing compliance efforts.  The
 
  remaining material below is left as it was before that announcement:</p>
 

	
 

	
 
<p>Conservancy maintains this
 
  <abbr title="Frequently Asked Questions">FAQ</abbr> list regarding
 
  <a href="/news/2015/mar/05/vmware-lawsuit/">Christoph Hellwig's lawsuit against VMware
 
  in Germany over alleged GPL violations on Linux</a> as a service to the
 
  Free Software community, and in particular, the copyleft community.  Conservancy
 
  realizes this lawsuit generates many questions and interest
 
  from the community.  Legal counsel (both Conservancy's own, and
 
  Christoph's lawyer, Till Jaeger) correctly advise us to limit our public
 
  comments regarding specific details of the case while litigation remains
 
  pending in court.  Nevertheless, Conservancy, as a
 
  non-profit charity serving the public good, seeks to be as transparent as
 
  possible.  If you have additional questions you'd like to see answered
 
  here, please <a href="mailto:info@sfconservancy.org">email
 
  &lt;info@sfconservancy.org&gt;</a>, but understand that we may often need
 
  to answer: <q>We cannot comment on this while litigation is pending</q>.</p>
 

	
 
<dl>
 
  <dt>Who is the Plaintiff in the lawsuit?</dt>
 

	
 
  <dd>Christoph is one of most active developers of the Linux kernel. He has
 
   contributed 279,653 lines of code to the latest Linux 3.19 kernel, and
 
   thus ranks 20th among the 1,340 developers involved in that release.
 
   Christoph also ranks 4th among those who have reviewed third-party source
 
   code, and he has tirelessly corrected and commented on other developers'
 
   contributions.</dd>
 

	
 
  <dt id="court-documents">Are the court documents released?</dt>
 

	
 
  <dd>Not currently.  Court proceedings are not public by default in Germany
 
  (unlike in the USA).  Conservancy will continue to update this FAQ with
 
  information that Conservancy knows about the case.  We would all also
 
  welcome an agreement with VMware whereby both sides would agree to publish
 
  all Court documents.  Unfortunately, VMware has explicitly asked for the
 
  filings not to be published.   Accordingly, Conservancy itself has not
 
  even been able to review VMware's statement of defense nor Christoph's
 
  response to that statement of defense.</dd>
 

	
 
  <dt id="funding">Who's funding this lawsuit?</dt>
 

	
 
  <dd>Conservancy has engaged in a grant agreement with Christoph Hellwig for
 
  the purposes of pursuing this specific legal action in Germany.
 
  Conservancy is funding this legal action specifically as part of
 
  Conservancy's program activity in
 
  its <a href="/copyleft-compliance/about.html">GPL Compliance
 
  Project for Linux Developers</a>.</dd>
 

	
 
  <dt id="combined-and-derivative-works">Is this the Great Test Case of Combined / Derivative Works?</dt>
 

	
 
  <dd>This case is specifically regarding a combined work that VMware
 
  allegedly created by combining their own code (&ldquo;vmkernel&rdquo;) with
 
  portions of Linux's code, which was licensed only under GPLv2.  As such,
 
  this, to our knowledge, marks the first time an enforcement case is
 
  exclusively focused on this type of legal question relating to GPL.
 
  However, there are so many different ways to make combined and/or
 
  derivative works that are covered by GPL that no single case could possibly
 
  include all such issues. </dd>
 

	
 
  <dt id="why-lawsuit">Why must you file a lawsuit?  Isn't there any other way to convince
 
    VMware to comply with GPL?</dt>
 

	
 
  <dd><p>Neither Conservancy nor Christoph takes this action lightly nor without
 
  exhausting every other possible alternative first.  This lawsuit is the
 
    outgrowth of years of effort to convince VMware to comply with GPL.</p>
 

	
 
    <p>In October 2011, Conservancy received a GPL violation report on
 
  BusyBox for VMware's ESXi products.  Conservancy opened the matter in its
 
  usual, friendly, and non-confrontational way.  Nevertheless, VMware
 
  immediately referred Conservancy to VMware's outside legal counsel in the
 
  USA, and Conservancy negotiated with VMware's legal counsel throughout
 
  late 2011, 2012 and 2013.  We exchanged and reviewed
 
  <a title="Complete, Corresponding Source" href="https://copyleft.org/guide/comprehensive-gpl-guidech6.html#x9-470005.2.1">CCS</a> candidates, and
 
  admittedly, VMware made substantial and good efforts toward compliance on
 
  BusyBox.  However, VMware still refused to fix a few minor and one major
 
  compliance problem that we discovered during the process.  Namely, there
 
  was a major violation regarding Linux itself that ultimately became
 
  Christoph's key complaint in this lawsuit.</p>
 

	
 
 <p>Meanwhile, when Conservancy realized in late 2012 there might be a major
 
 Linux violation still present in VMware's ESXi products, Conservancy
 
 representatives sought every industry contact we had for assistance,
 
 including those from trade associations, companies (both competitors and
 
 collaborators with VMware), and everyone else we could think of who might be
 
 able to help us proceed with friendly negotiations that would achieve
 
 compliance.  While we cannot name publicly the people we asked for help
 
 to convince VMware to comply, they include some of the most notable
 
 executives, diplomats, and engineering managers in the Linux community.  No
 
 one was able to assist Conservancy in convincing VMware to comply with the
 
 GPL.  Then, in early 2014, VMware's outside legal counsel in the USA finally
 
 took a clear and hard line with Conservancy stating that they would not
 
 comply with the GPL on Linux and argued (in our view, incorrectly) that they
 
 were already in compliance.</p>
 

	
 
 <p>Conservancy in parallel informed Christoph fully of the details of the
 
   Linux violation on Christoph's copyrights, and based on Conservancy's
 
   findings, Christoph began his own investigation and confirmed
 
   Conservancy's compliance conclusions.  Christoph then began his own
www/conservancy/static/copyleft-compliance/vmware-lawsuit-links.html
Show inline comments
 
new file 100644
 
{% extends "base_compliance.html" %}
 
{% block subtitle %}Copyleft Compliance Projects - {% endblock %}
 
{% block submenuselection %}VMwareLawsuitLinks{% endblock %}
 
{% block content %}
 
<h1>Christoph Hellwig's VMware Lawsuit - Resources</h1>
 

	
 
<p>Christoph Hellwig's case against VMware in Germany has concluded.  You can
 
  view the relevant announcements and analysis that Conservancy has published
 
  about the case below, starting with the announcement regarding the conclusion
 
  of the case:</p>
 

	
 
<p>
 
  <ul>
 
    <li><a href="/news/2019/apr/02/vmware-no-appeal/">VMware Suit Concludes in Germany</a></li>
 
    <li><a href="http://faif.us/cast/2019/apr/22/0x66/"><cite>Free as in
 
    Freedom</cite> that discusses the conclusion of the lawsuit</a></li>
 
    <li><a href="/news/2016/aug/09/vmware-appeal/">Announcement of Appeal</a></li>
 
    <li><a href="/news/2015/mar/05/vmware-lawsuit/">Original Press Release</a></li>
 
    <li><a href="/copyleft-compliance/vmware-lawsuit-appeal.html">Funding our Compliance Work</a></li>
 
    <li><a href="/copyleft-compliance/vmware-lawsuit-faq.html">
 
      <abbr title="Frequently Asked Questions">FAQ</abbr> on VMware Lawsuit</a></li>
 
    <li><a href="/copyleft-compliance/vmware-code-similarity.html">VMware's &amp;
 
      Christoph's Code Similarity Analysis</a></li>
 
  </ul>
 
</p>
 
{% endblock %}

Changeset was too big and was cut off... Show full diff anyway

0 comments (0 inline, 0 general)