Last month, Conservancy announced Christoph Hellwig's + lawsuit against VMware in Germany. Help us meet our anonymous match to + support Conservancy's and Christoph's efforts in this area + by becoming a Conservancy + supporter or donating via + the link on the right.
+ + +We were told to ask nicely and repeatedly, so we did.
+ +We asked allies to help us make contact in friendly and professional + ways.
+ +Everyone asked us to give companies as many chances as possible and as + much help as possible to comply with copyleft, so we did.
+ +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!
+ +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!
+ +Free and open source software is everywhere and in everything; yet our + software freedom is constantly eroded.
+ +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.
+ +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.
+ +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.
+ +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 donate 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 donate, go and tell the world: “Play by the rules, @VMware. I defend the #GPL with Christoph & @Conservancy. #DTRTvmware Help at https://sfconservancy.org/supporter/ ” on your blog or microblog. +
+ + +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 FAQ to find out more +information.)
+ +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 Conservancy Supporter or + via donate link on the right.
+ +Watch the video below of Conservancy Executive Director, Karen Sandler, + delivering a keynote on this topic + at + LibrePlanet 2015:
++ +
+ +Or, read our FAQ about + the lawsuit.
+ +{% endblock %}