Changeset - d01295b6c0c0
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Bradley Kuhn (bkuhn) - 8 years ago 2015-11-29 20:03:58
bkuhn@ebb.org
Additional facts from in 2015-10-28 announcement.

The news announcement posted on Conservancy's site on 2015-10-28 at:
https://sfconservancy.org/news/2015/oct/28/vmware-update/

had additional facts. This commit incorporates those into the FAQ.

Additionally, a link to additional technical materials was also provided
that day.
1 file changed with 41 insertions and 2 deletions:
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www/conservancy/static/copyleft-compliance/vmware-lawsuit-faq.html
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@@ -33,13 +33,16 @@
 
  <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. </dd>
 
  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  filings not to be published.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>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
...
 
@@ -110,12 +113,43 @@
 

	
 
 <p>Simply put, Conservancy and Christoph fully exhausted every possible
 
 non-litigation strategy and tactic to convince VMware to do the right thing
 
 before filing this litigation.</p>
 
  </dd>    
 

	
 
  <dt>What are VMware's primary defenses for their alleged copyright
 
    infringement?</dt>
 

	
 
  <dd>With the guidance of counsel, Christoph was able to provide Conservancy
 
  with a high-level summary of VMware's statement of defense, which we share
 
  in this FAQ.  Specifically, VMware's statement of defense primarily focuses
 
  on two issues.  First, VMware questions Christoph's copyright interest in
 
  the Linux kernel and his right to bring this action.  Second, VMware claims
 
  vmklinux is an &ldquo;interoperability module&rdquo; which communicates
 
  through a stable interface called VMK API.</dd>
 

	
 
  <dt>How did Christoph respond to VMware's statement of defense?</dt>
 

	
 
  <dd>Christoph's response discusses his extensive contributions to the Linux
 
  kernel and disputes the technical merits of VMware's assertions. The
 
  response points out that vmklinux is <strong>not</strong> an
 
  interoperability module, but rather an arbitrary separation of the Linux
 
  derived module from vmkernel.   Specifically, vmklinux is nonfunctional
 
  with any non-ESX OS, and vmklinux is tied intimately to a specific version
 
  of ESXi.  Vmklinux does not allow reuse of unmodified Linux drivers in
 
  binary or source form.  Christoph further points out that if the Court
 
  allows proprietarization of an arbitrary split portion of GPL'd computer
 
  programs, it could allow redistributors to trivially bypass the strong
 
  copyleft terms found in the GPL.  Finally, the response explains that
 
  vmkernel and vmklinux don't &ldquo;communicate over an interface&rdquo;,
 
  rather they run in the same process as a single computer program.  Thus,
 
  VMK API, as used by vmklinux, is not an &ldquo;interface&rdquo; as set
 
  forth in
 
  the <a href="http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32009L0024&from=EN">EU
 
      Directive 2009/24/EC</a>.</dd>
 

	
 
  <dt>Can you explain further how VMware incorporated code from Linux into
 
  their kernel?</dt>
 

	
 
  <dd>
 
  <p id="diagram">
 
    Conservancy prepared this diagram to show the technical situation as we
...
 
@@ -438,13 +472,18 @@ static struct pci_driver tg3_driver = {
 
<dd><p>The binary and source packages mentioned above are available
 
on VMware's website.  These packages contain the
 
previously-mentioned <code>linux_pci.c</code>,
 
<code>vmkapi_pci_incompat.h</code>, and <code>k.b00</code> files, as well as
 
    <code>vmklinux_9</code> and the source code that builds the latter.</p>
 

	
 
  <p>To obtain the source components, follow these steps (no login is required):</p>
 
  <p>To speed up the process, Conservancy has provided
 
  a <a href="https://git.sfconservancy.org/?p=vmkdrivers;a=summary">Git
 
  repository that we built that includes the source components that VMware
 
  released</a>, and which are discussed above in our examples.  However, one
 
  can also obtain the source components directly from VMware, by following
 
  these steps (no login is required):</p>
 

	
 
<ol>
 
<li>Visit <a href="https://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/details?downloadGroup=ESXI55U2_OSS&productId=353">https://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/details?downloadGroup=ESXI55U2_OSS&productId=353</a>.</li>
 

	
 
<li>Click the &ldquo;Download&rdquo; button beside the text that reads
 
&ldquo;Open Source Code for VMware vSphere ESXi 5.5 Update 2&rdquo;.</li>
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