[ILUG] court cases involving the gpl...

[kevin lyda]

do you realise that the gpl has never gone to court?  there is currently
one case that might make it to court between two companies that sell
versions of mysql, but that's it.  every other instance of gpl violations
has been settled, and usually quite amicably.

now, compare this with numerous proprietary licenses.  the business
software alliance (the bsa) has handed out millions of dollars in fines to
businesses that don't correctly follow closed source licenses.  at&t sued
the bsd crowd for including closed source code in their bsd licensed code.
the company that did the initial drive compression s/w for ms ended up
suing ms for taking their code (both sides were closed source code).

there's one thread in common with free software developers (bsd, gpl
and others), closed software developers, prose authors, and musicians:
they all want the copyright that their creative work is released under
to be respected.

you chose to write an article hilighting *one* of those groups doing that.
now, compare and contrast how gpl violations are handled, with how the
bsa or the riaa is dealing with violations of their licenses.  how many
fines have been demanded due to gpl violations, how many for the other?
how many companies have been effectively put out of business due to
violations of the gpl?  of closed software licenses?  of riaa enforcement?

kevin

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