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<h1>Previous Copyleft Litigation</h1>

<p>Pursuant to our <a href="/copyleft-compliance/principles.html">Principles of

  Community-Oriented GPL enforcement</a>, Software Freedom Conservancy sees

  litigation as an last resort when other methods to achieve copyleft

  compliance fail.  Below, we discuss the outcome of past compliance

  lawsuits where Conservancy played a role.</p>

<h2 id="best-buy-et-al">Software Freedom Conservancy v. Best Buy, et al</h2>

<p>On 14 December 2009, Software Freedom Conservancy filed a federal copyright

lawsuit against 14 defendants, including Best Buy, Samsung, Westinghouse, and

JVC.

The <a href="https://ia600207.us.archive.org/21/items/gov.uscourts.nysd.355978/gov.uscourts.nysd.355978.docket.html">docket

of that lawsuit is available (on archive.org)</a> and

the <a href="/docs/busybox-complaint-2009-12-14.pdf">original complaint is on

    our website</a>.</p>

<p>Conservancy settled with each defendant at different times, and the

  dismissals can be seen in the docket.  Generally speaking, and pursuant to

  our <a href="/copyleft-compliance/principles.html">Principles of

  Community-Oriented GPL enforcement</a>, Conservancy never settles a lawsuit

  unless we believe that full compliance has been achieved (or will be

  achieved imminently) with the terms of <em>all</em> copyleft licenses

  on <em>all</em> software included in the devices at issue in any lawsuit

  that we've filed.</p>

<p>One oft-stated confusion about this litigation was that we sued Best Buy

  for sales of third-party devices in their stores.  <strong>That is not

  accurate</strong>.  Best Buy had a house-brand DVD player under the

  “Insignia” “house brand” that they produced as

  their own product.</p>

<h2 id="vmware">Christoph Hellwig's VMware Lawsuit</h2>

<p>Conservancy partially funded and assisted in coordination of Christoph

  Hellwig's lawsuit against VMware in Germany.  That case concluded in 2019.

  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> podcast 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>

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