[U-Boot] Possible GPL violation

[Charles Manning]

I have had to deal with this a bit so I'll give my 2c.

Under the GPL2, the company only has to provide source, or make an
offer to do so, to customers buying the product containing the GPL
code.

The flip side to this is that the "teeth" in the GPL come from
copyright law and the only person who can force anything is the
copyright holder.

So that really means:
1) If you buy a product containing GPL code, but the company does not
supply the code, then - in general - you cannot force the company to
supply you with code. You need to get the collaboration of an
infringed copyright holder to force the issue.
2) If you are the copyright holder of some GPL code, you cannot - in
general - demand that the company supply you with code. You have to
either buy a product or get the collaboration of someone that has
bought a product.

In the cases I have been involved with (as an infringed copyright
holder), the lawyers bought a product on our behalf and made requests
for code and then when none was forthcoming they pressed the case.

It really isn't as easy as it should be...


On Fri, Mar 8, 2013 at 4:28 AM, Wolfgang Denk <wd at denx.de> wrote:
> Dear Pavel,
>
> In message <20130307091729.GA24807 at xo-6d-61-c0.localdomain> you wrote:
>>
>> > So did you contact the vendor and ask for the source code?  And did
>> > they answer, and what exactly?
>>
>> Technically... he should have got source code or written offer for it with
>> the device. So they are already breaking GPL.
>
> Of course you are correct.  But there is a wide ange of possibilies;
> some vendors just don't know what they are supposed to do, and are
> appreciative for a friendly hint.  Of course there are also those
> where you need a fully charged blaster - but in my experience these
> are very few.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Wolfgang Denk
>
> --
> DENX Software Engineering GmbH,     MD: Wolfgang Denk & Detlev Zundel
> HRB 165235 Munich, Office: Kirchenstr.5, D-82194 Groebenzell, Germany
> Phone: (+49)-8142-66989-10 Fax: (+49)-8142-66989-80 Email: wd at denx.de
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>                                               - Charles Galton Darwin
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