Software Freedom Conservancy files Lawsuit Against TV Manufacturer Vizio Inc. for GPL Violations
owl draws our attention to the following:
https://sfconservancy.org/copyleft-compliance/vizio.html
IRVINE, Calif. (Oct. 19, 2021) Software Freedom Conservancy announced today it has filed a lawsuit against Vizio Inc. for what it calls repeated failures to fulfill even the basic requirements of the General Public License (GPL).
The lawsuit alleges that Vizio's TV products, built on its SmartCast system, contain software that Vizio unfairly appropriated from a community of developers who intended consumers to have very specific rights to modify, improve, share, and reinstall modified versions of the software.
The GPL is a copyleft license that ensures end users the freedom to run, study, share, and modify the software. Copyleft is a kind of software licensing that leverages the restrictions of copyright, but with the intent to promote sharing (using copyright licensing to freely use and repair software).
Software Freedom Conservancy, a nonprofit organization focused on ethical technology, is filing the lawsuit as the purchaser of a product which has copylefted code. This approach makes it the first legal case that focuses on the rights of individual consumers as third-party beneficiaries of the GPL.
[...] According to Sandler, the organization first raised the issue of non-compliance with the GPL with Vizio in August 2018. After a year of diplomatic attempts to work with the company, it was not only still refusing to comply, but stopped responding to inquiries altogether as of January 2020.
The "and install" clause implies that the infringing software would be GPLv3, rather than GPLv2.LWN carry the story here, including a link to the complaint itself which refers only to GPLv2 and LGPLv2.1 violations. I wonder if they're overstating their case? (Installing being the "tivoisation" issue that caused GPLv3 to be created in the first place.) What really matters is what is said in court, not what's written in their press release. -- Ed.
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