[Fsfe-ie] GPL enforcement in Ireland

Ciaran O'Riordan ciaran at fsfe.org
Tue May 24 22:44:28 CEST 2005


Bryan O'Donoghue <typedef at eircom.net> writes:
> http://www.absoluteastr onomy.com/encyclopedia/F/Fr/Free_Software_Foundation.htm
> 
> Says [...]

That page was copied from wikipedia.  (I should know, I wrote most of it.)

"absoluteastronomy" and "fact-index" and a few other sites copy the pages
from wikipedia, add banner and text ads, and don't provide an edit button.
This breaks the collaborative process.  Please don't publicise their work.

They're pages are also probably less up-to-date than the original source:
http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Software_Foundation

> I'm wondering, if there has ever been a instance of GPL enforcement in
> Ireland ?

Court cases? no.

Violation reports? yes.  I've made one, FSF sorted it out. (the violator
wasn't Irish though.)

> I'm quite sure, there are vendors distributing GPL software, without
> providing source code or the three year offer to provide the source to
> third parties.

One of the easiest way to find violators is to run 'strings' on a suspected
execuatable.  Then check the license of the free software code - sometimes
it's X Windows licensed code, in which case proprietary inclusion is ok.

The violation report procedure is here:
http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/gpl-violation.html

> [The wikipedia page on FSF s]ays that there is an enforcement, branch of
> FSF, has this actually ever been used in Ireland, or in Europe outside of
> German courts ?

Never in Ireland, and I think Germany is the only European country.

FSF tries to settle things without involving the courts.  They want
compliance, not damages.  (That's probably why they call it a Compliance Lab
rather than an Enforcement Branch.)  There's info about the compliance lab
here: http://www.fsf.org/licensing/compliance.html


hth
-- 
Ciarán O'Riordan,
http://www.compsoc.com/~coriordan/                http://fsfe.org/Members/ciaran
                (My email address has changed from @member.fsf.org to @fsfe.org)



More information about the FSFE-IE mailing list