Archived News of the gpl-violations.org project

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
---------------------

DISTRICT COURT OF FRANKFURT ISSUES VERDICT ON GPL VIOLATION OF D-LINK

BERLIN, Germany - September 22, 2006 -- The gpl-violations.org project prevails
in court litigation against D-Link Germany GmbH regarding D-Link's alleged
inappropriate and copyright infringing use of parts of the Linux Operating
System Kernel.

D-Link Germany GmbH, a subsidiary of D-Link Corporation, Taiwan R.O.C.,
distributed DSM-G600, a network attached storage (NAS) device which uses a
Linux-based Operating System.  However, this distribution was incompliant with
the GNU General Public License (GPL) which covers the Linux Kernel and many
other software programs used in the product.

Following-up a legal warning notice, D-Link signed a declaration to cease and
desist and agreed to refrain from further distributing the product, but refused
to reimburse gpl-violations.org for expenses incurred in connection with the
test purchase, re-engineering and legal advice and representation. In the court
proceedings, D-Link claimed that the GPL is not legally binding. A quote from
the German letter of the D-Link lawyers to gpl-violations.org, dated Feb 24,
2006 can be translated as:

"Regardless of the repeatedly-quoted judgement of the district court of Munich
 I, we do not consider the GPL as legally binding."
 
Since gpl-violations.org has been continuously revealing GPL violations by
D-Link since September 2004, it filed a civil case with the district court of
Frankfurt (Germany) in March 2006, seeking the court to issue a judgement in
support of its copyright claims based on the GPL, and seeking the court to
order D-Link to reimburse gpl-violations.org for the expenses of the
out-of-court enforcement.

Mr. Harald Welte, Linux Kernel developer and founder of gpl-violations.org
states : 

"The Free Software community is very happy to see more and more vendors to use
Linux and other Free Software in their products.  However, Free Software is
copyrighted material, much like any other software.  Redistribution may only
take place in accordance with its license."

On September 6, 2006 the district court issued its judgement, confirming the
claims by gpl-violations.org, specifically its rights on the subject-matter
source code, the violation of the GNU GPL by D-Link, the validity of the GPL
under German law, and D-Links obligation to reimburse gpl-violations.org for
legal expenses, test purchase and cost of re-engineering. Only the amount of
the legal expenses was considered too high by some insignificant amount of 300
EUR.  Therefore, this decision marks a clear-cut victory for
gpl-violations.org.  D-Link may file an appeal against the judgement.

Mr. Welte continues: 

"It was very sad to see D-Link starting to argue that the GPL would not apply .
Given D-Link's repeated license violations, it can be thankful  that we've
never asked for any kind of damages, but merely to cease and desist  from
further infringements, plus our expenses.  I start to wonder whether they
actually deserve such a mild strategy."


About gpl-violations.org

In the past 30 months, gpl-violations.org has helped uncover and negotiate more
than 100 GPL violations and has obtained numerous out-of-court settlement
agreements. The gpl-violations.org project is a not-for-profit effort to bring
commercial users and vendors of Free Software into compliance with the license
conditions as set forth by the original authors.  The project was founded and
is managed by Mr. Harald Welte, a Linux Kernel developer and Free Software
enthusiast.


For more information on the project, its mission, milestones and goals,
please see http://gpl-violations.org/

The German version of the court judgement can be found at
http://www.jbb.de/urteil_lg_frankfurt_gpl.pdf, an English translation will
be released by gpl-violations.org in one week.

Media contact:
gpl-violations.org
Harald Welte
Email: laforge@gpl-violations.org
      

The German version of the court judgement is available. An English translation will be released by gpl-violations.org within one week.

For news coverage on this release, please see our Links section.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
---------------------

Auseinandersetzung um GPL-Konformität der Österreichischen Gesundheitskarte beigelegt.

BERLIN, Deutschland - Feb. 10, 2006 -- Das gpl-violations.org Projekt hat einen
Verstoß gegen die GNU General Public License (GPL) im System der
Österreichischen Gesundheitskarte (e-card) aufgedeckt und behoben.

Für die Lizenzverletzung beim Aufbau des e-Card Systems war die
SV-Chipkarten Betries- und Errichtungs GmbH verantwortlich.

Laut gpl-violations.org setzt SVC B.u.E. GmbH unter der GPL lizenzierte Software,
einschließlich Linux, in dem "GINA" (Gesundheits Informations Netzwerk Adapter) ein.
Der "GINA" wird in jeder Artzpraxis installiert und agiert als Gateway zwischen
dem Gesundheitsinformationsnetz und der Praxis.

"Es ist absolut nicht falsch, unter GPL lizenzierte Software in kommerziellen
Produkten einzusetzen, solange die Bedingungen wie Weitergabe des Lizenztextes
und des zugehörigen Quellcodes eingehalten werden", sagt Harald Welte,
Linux Kernel Entwickler und Gründer des gpl-violations.org Projekts.

Das gpl-violations.org Projekt geht GPL-Verletzungen nach, insbesondere in
diversen Embedded-Produkten wie Media-Playern, Konsolen-Servern, TV
Set-Top-Boxen, Mobiltelefonen und Netzwerkgeräten.

Herr Welte sagt weiter: "Die Entwicklergemeinde von Freier Software ist sehr
froh darüber, daß mehr und mehr Hersteller Linux und andere Freie
Software in ihren Produkten einsetzen.  Trotzdem ist Freie Software wie jede
andere Software urheberrechtlich geschützt.  Jeglicher Vertrieb darf nur
in Übereinstimmung mit den Lizenzbedingungen erfolgen."

Infolge einer außergerichtlichen Einigung macht die SVC B.u.E. GmbH nun den
Lizenztext, ein schritliches Angebot zur Quellcodeabgabe sowie den Quellcode
selbst unter

http://www.chipkarte.at/esvapps/page/page.jsp?p_pageid=220&p_menuid=60699&p_id=5
zugänglich.


Über das gpl-violations.org Projekt

In den letzten 24 Monaten hat das gpl-violations.org Projekt dazu beigetragen,
mehr als 60 GPL-Verletzungen zu beheben und zahlreiche außergerichtliche
Einigungen zu erzielen oder die Lizenz gerichtlich durchzusetzen.  Das
gpl-violations.org Projekt ist nicht profitorientiert und hat als ziel,
kommerzielle Anwender von Freier Software in Einklang mit den Lizenzbedingungen
der Softwareurheber zu bringen.  Das Projekt wurde von Harald Welte, selbst
Linux-Kernel-Entwickler und aktives Mitglied der Gemeinde rund um Freie
Software, gegründet und bis heute von ihm geleitet.

Für weitere Informationen über das Projekt und seine Ziele, besuchen Sie bitte 
http://gpl-violations.org/


Media contact:

gpl-violations.org
c/o Harald Welte
Glanzstr. 11
12437 Berlin
GERMANY
Phone: +49-30-24033902
Email: laforge@gpl-violations.org
      

For news coverage on this release, please see our Links section.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
---------------------

TARGA NOTEBOOK IN LIDL SALE OF 01 JUN 2005 VIOLATES GPL

BERLIN, Germany - Jun. 01, 2005 -- The gpl-violations.org project has
uncovered violations by TARGA GmbH, a German Notebook Vendor, of the GNU
General Public License (GPL).  

According to gpl-violations.org, TARGA GmbH used GPL licensed software in the
"TARGA Quick Media" software that is pre-installed on their Treveller 826T MT32
Notbooks.

Sales of the Targa Traveller 826T MT32 notebook just started earlier today
at LIDL, one of Germanys largest nationwide low-budget retail stores.

"While there is nothing wrong with using GPL licensed software in commercial
products, it is only permitted under certain obligations, such as passing
on the license agreement, and making available the full corresponding 
source code", says Mr. Harald Welte, Linux Kernel developer and founder of the
gpl-violations.org project.

The gpl-violations.org project has recently uncovered similar GPL violations in
pre-installed media player software on notebook computers of other vendors such
as Medion AG.

Mr Welte continues: "The Free Software community is very happy to see that
notebook vendors actually pre-install Linux onto their devices because they're
dissatisfied with the bootup time of the popular Microsoft(R) Windows(TM)
operating system.  However, Free Software is copyrighted material, much like
any other software.  Redistribution can only happen according to this license."


About the gpl-violations.org project

In the past 16 months, gpl-violations.org has helped uncover and negotiate
more than 30 out-of-court settlement agreements. The gpl-violations.org
project is a not-for-profit effort to bring commercial users and vendors of
Free Software into compliance with the license conditions as set forth by
the original authors.  The project was founded and is managed by Mr. Harald
Welte, a Linux Kernel developer and Free Software enthusiast.
 
For more information on the project, its mission, milestones and goals,
please

see http://gpl-violations.org/

 

Media contact:

gpl-violations.org

Phone: +49-30-24033902

Email: laforge@gpl-violations.org
      

For news coverage on this release, please see our Links section.

The most recent notebook models sold at ALDI discounters in Germany and abroad, the Medion MD95500, were shipping in violation of the GNU General Public License.

The notebooks come pre-installed with the "Cyberlink PowerCinema Linux" software, a custom-tailored mini Linux-Distrubution bundled together with a proprietary media player application from Cyberlink Corp.

However, the product ships without any reference to the GNU GPL, does not include the full corresponding source code and no written offer where the source code can be obtained.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
---------------------

FORTINET VIOLATES GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE IN SECURITY PRODUCTS

 

Munich court grants preliminary injunction halting sales 

 

BERLIN, Germany - Apr. 14, 2005 -- The  gpl-violations.org project has
uncovered violations by Fortinet UK Ltd., the UK subsidiary of Fortinet Inc.,
of the GNU General Public License (GPL).  According to gpl-violations.org,
Fortinet used GPL software in certain products and then used cryptographic
techniques to conceal that usage. 

 

As a result of this violation, the Munich district court has granted a
preliminary injunction against Fortinet Ltd., banning them from further
distribution of their products until they are in compliance with the GNU GPL
conditions.

 

The GPL licenses software without collecting royalties, but requires any
distributor to provide the full corresponding source code and a copy of the
full license text.

 

"This violation by Fortinet is especially egregious since the vendor not
only violated the GPL, but actively tried to hide that violation," said
Harald Welte, Linux Kernel developer and founder of the gpl-violations.org
project. "We are not in any way opposed to the commercial use of Free and
Open Source Software and there is no legal risk of using GPL licensed
software in commercial products.  But vendors have to comply with the
license terms, just like they would have to with any other software license
agreement."

 

Fortinet offers a variety of Firewall and Antivirus Products (the FortiGate
and FortiWiFi product series), on which Fortinet claims to run the "FortiOS"
operating system. However, as the gpl-violations.org project uncovered,
"FortiOS" is using the Linux operating system kernel and numerous other free
software products that are licensed exclusively under the GNU GPL. This
information was not disclosed by Fortinet.

 

Following a warning notice by the gpl-violations.org project on March 17,
2005, Fortinet did not sign a declaration to cease and desist.  Out-of-court
negotiations on a settlement failed to conclude in a timely manner.

 

Thus, the gpl-violations.org project was compelled to ask the court for a
preliminary injunction, banning Fortinet from distributing its products,
unless they are in full compliance with the GNU GPL license conditions.

 

About the gpl-violations.org project

 

In the past 15 months, gpl-violations.org has helped uncover and negotiate
more than 30 out-of-court settlement agreements. The gpl-violations.org
project is a not-for-profit effort to bring commercial users and vendors of
Free Software into compliance with the license conditions as set forth by
the original authors.  The project was founded and is managed by Mr. Harald
Welte, a Linux Kernel developer and Free Software enthusiast.

 

For more information on the project, its mission, milestones and goals,
please

see http://gpl-violations.org/

 

 

Media contact:

gpl-violations.org

Phone: +49-30-24033902

Email: laforge@gpl-violations.org
      

For news coverage on this release, please see our Links section.

Some 13 vendors of commercial software and appliance products present at CeBIT receive an open warning letter against their alleged misuse of GPL licensed software. Those warning letters will be personally handed over to the respective companies at their CeBIT booth by Mr. Harald Welte, free software developer and founder of the gpl-violations.org project.

The list of companies includes high-profile names of the computing industry, such as Motorola, Acer, AOpen, and continues with Micronet, Buffalo and Trendware.

"While the Free and Open Source community is very happy to see more and more vendors adopt Linux and other GPL-licensed software, it is of great importance that those vendors comply with the respective license conditions, just like with any other software" states Mr. Welte. "The warning notice gives them a chance to fix their products, before someone might get them into legal troubles", he continues.

Today, the netfilter/iptables project has concluded yet another settlement. This time it was with the dutch vendor Edimax Technology.

The Edimax products in which GPL-licensed software was found without any source code offer were: PS-3205U, BR-6104K and BR-6104WG.

Today, the netfilter/iptables project announces it has concluded yet another GPL enforcement. It has received a declaration to cease and desist from Longshine Technology Europe GmbH, a German Vendor of networking products.

The products in which GPL-licensed software was found without license compliance were: LCS-883R-DSL-4FN, LCS-883R-DSL-2WN, LCS-8200.

Today, the netfilter/iptables project announces it has concluded yet another GPL enforcement. It has received a declaration to cease and desist from ARP DATACON GmbH, the German Vendor of the Claxan NAS (Network Attached Storage) devices.

The products in which GPL-licensed software was found without license compliance were: SA113, SA110, NAS110.

Today, Mr. Harald Welte, founder of the gpl-violations.org project, was invited to give a seminar on Free Software, GPL licensing and especially his experience with GPL enforcement at the European Union.

This seminar was organised by the unit Software Technologies and Distributed systems of the DG Information Society and Media. This unit is in charge of FOSS aspects in the IST programme.

The Logo (as seen in the upper left corner of this homepage) was designed and provided by Chris Hübsch.

The gpl-violations.org project (http://www.gpl-violations.org/) announces yet another successful enforcement of the GNU General Public License(GPL), a license commonly used with Free Software, such as the Linux Operating System Kernel. In an amicable agreement with TomTom B.V. (http://www.tomtom.com/), a Dutch vendor of Navigation Systems, the gpl-violations.org project was able to bring the TomTom GO product into GPL compliance.

The source code for the Linux Operating System Kernel, including TomTom's own modifications, is now made available at http://www.tomtom.com/gpl. Furthermore, other obligations of the GPL such as reproduction of the full license terms will be fulfilled by TomTom B.V.

As part of the agreement, TomTom will show it's appreciation of the Free Software and technology enthusiast movement by making a significant donation to the Chaos Computer Club (http://www.ccc.de/).

"We are happy about the productive and friendly attitude of TomTom B.V. while resolving this licensing issue", says Harald Welte, one of the copyright holders of the Linux Operating System Kernel and founder of the gpl-violations.org project.

About the gpl-violations.org project

The gpl-violations.org project is a volunteer-based effor to make corporate distributors of GPL-licensed Free Software aware of the licensing issues involved with GPL-licensed software.

For any reported case of GPL license violations, it will try to locate the respective copyright holders and inform them about possible actions to bring

gpl-violations.org is founded and run by Harald Welte, a long-term contributor and developer of GPL-licensed software.

About TomTom B.V.

TomTom B.V. is a Dutch based vendor of navigation software and navigation appliances.

The Product “TomTom GO” is an ARM-based embedded computer running the Linux operating system and TomTom's proprietary navigation software.

About CCC e.V.

Chaos Computer Club e.V. (CCC) is Germanys leading hacker organization, established 1983. It discusses recent advances in information technology, and aims at raising public knowledge and awareness about the consequences.

Interest groups within CCC include: Biometrics, Data Protection, IT Security, Copyright, Software Patens.

2004-Oct-22: netfilter/iptables project concludes agreement on GPL licensing with Gigabyte

The netfilter/iptables project (http://www.netfilter.org/) announces another successful enforcement of the GNU General Public License(GPL), a license commonly used with Free Software, such as the Linux Operating System Kernel. In an agreement with Gigabyte Technologies B.V., the European subsidiary of Gigabyte Technology Co. Ltd. in Taiwan (http://www.giga-byte.com/), the netfilter/iptables project was able to bring the Gigabyte BR404W and B49G products into GPL compliance.

The source code of the GPL-licensed components such as the Linux Kernel and the iptables packet filter is now made available via the Gigabyte Support Homepage. Furthermore, other obligations of the GPL such as reproduction of the full license terms will be fulfilled by Gigabyte.

As part of the agreement, Gigabyte will show its appreciation of the Free Software movement by making a donation to the netfilter/iptables project.

"We are very happy about the positive attitude of Gigabyte while resolving this licensing issue", says Harald Welte, chairman of the netfilter/iptables project and founder of the gpl-violations.org project.

About the netfilter/iptables project

The netfilter/iptables project provides state-of-the-art network security software for Linux firewalling, packet filter and network address translation (NAT), distributed as Free Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License. Being part of the linux operating system kernel, the software is running on virtually every Linux installation.

About Gigabyte Technologies B.V.

Gigabyte Technologies B.V. is the European Subsidiary of Giga-Byte Technologies Co. Ltd, one of the worldwide largest suppliers of PC Motherboards. Gigabyte also offers Graphic Adaptors, Notebooks and also Peripherals such as the Wireless Routers BR404W and B49G, which incorporate the netfilter/iptables packet filter.

About the gpl-violations.org project

The gpl-violations.org project is a volunteer-based effor to make corporate distributors of GPL-licensed Free Software aware of the licensing issues involved with GPL-licensed software.

For any reported case of GPL license violations, it will try to locate the respective copyright holders and inform them about possible actions to bring their products into compliance.

gpl-violations.org is founded and run by Harald Welte, a long-term contributor and developer of GPL-licensed software.

The netfilter/iptables project did not announce every individual case, but has so far settled in more than 10 cases out of court. Among the vendors are major companies such as Siemens, Fujitsu-Siemens, Asus and Belkin.

The gpl-violations.org project announces two new Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) documents, courtesy of Alan Cox.

At the Wizards of OS 3 conference, gpl-violations.org founder Harald Welte had the opportunity to speak with Bradley Kuhn, chief legal consel of the Free Software Foundation.

Among the topics of discussion was a possible coordination between the two project. It was decided that the non-public list of GPL infringing products kept in the gpl-violations.org project is periodically synchronized with the FSF. In this way, the FSF can make sure that they can persue any infringement including code under their copyright.

After all, we are both aiming for the same goal: GPL compliance in all products.

Recently, the Free Software project netfilter/iptables obtained injunctive relief against Sitecom GmbH in Germany, who was distributing the netfilter/iptables software without complying to the GPL.

Sitecom has appealed to the preliminary injunction, and this appeal has ben turned down by the "Landgericht Muenchen I" court in Munich, Germany.

We have made available the German original of the judgement and an (unofficial) English translation.

The free software project netfilter/iptables continues their series of successful GPL enforcements.

At this time, the netfilter/iptables core team was granted a preliminary injunction against the German subsidiary of Sitecom.

The court acknowledges that the license terms of the GNU GPL are not fulfilled, and Sitecom has no right to distribute netfilter/iptables based products without fulfilling the conditions set forth in the GPL.

For more information, see the press release.

A scanned PDF version of the original court decision is available online at ifrOSS, the German Institute for Legal Questions of Open Source and Free Software.

The free software project netfilter/iptables continues their series of successful GPL enforcements.

At this time, the netfilter/iptables core team announces successful enforcement with two more companies.

ASUS

ASUS is offering a WLAN Router Product WL-500g, which incorporates the Linux OS Kernel and netfilter/iptables.

On March 12, 2004 ASUS Computer Germany has signed a Declaration to Ceases and Desist from further distributing their netfilter/iptables based products unless the GPL conditions on source code redistribution are fulfilled. The Declaration contains a grace period until March 26, 2004. The source code can already be downloaded from http://www.asus.com.tw/support/download/item.aspx?ModelName=WL-500g.

Securepoint

Securepoint, a German vendor of software-only corporate firewall and vpn server solutions.

On March 11, 2004, Securepoint GmbH has signed a Declaration to Cease and Desist from further distributing their netfilter/ipatbles based products unless the GPL conditions on source code redistribution are fulfilled.

Source code is made available via http://sources.securepoint.cc/.

Out-of-court settlement with Allnet GmbH on GPL'd iptables

The Netfilter Core Team has reached an amicable agreement with Allnet GmbH, a Germany-based vendor of networking equipment. Allnet was using netfilter/iptables software in their products without adhering to the obligations of the GPL.

For more information, see the full press release.