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Ask HN: Following up on GPL violation of my own software?

7 points by ctrager ↗ HN
I'm interested in guidance here based on actual knowledge/experience, rather than just peoples' opinions.

Here's the story:

I am the author and copyright holder of some GPL software. Even though I don't think I'm losing money because of the violation, I feel a duty to stand up for the GPL, so I do want to follow through. I don't see instructions on how to do that here: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-violation.html

My GPL software's home page is here: http://ifdefined.com/bugtrackernet.html And a demo here: http://ifdefined.com/btnet/bugs.aspx

The company that I believe is violating my license is here: http://ibn-distribution.de/sbhd/

I have zero doubt that their software uses my codebase, but I'm not 100% sure that they are failing to open their source, as mandated by GPL. So, I contacted them directly using two different email addresses I found on their site, but I have not heard back. I wrote that I want to work with them to make sure they comply with GPL OR work with them to license my software under different terms. I don't care which, but as I said, I feel it as a duty to follow up.

What should I do next?

9 comments

[ 4.0 ms ] story [ 33.1 ms ] thread
seven
Call the company via phone. Most Germans speak English, so that should work.

You might want to take a look at http://gpl-violations.org/ the guy who runs it is also a German.

dasht
I suggest asking for advice from the Software Freedom Law Center: http://www.softwarefreedom.org/ They specialize in this kind of thing.

As a point of ... trivia? ... Eben Moglen, the attorney that created the GPL along with Richard Stallman, directs and is a founder of SFLC.

paulhauggis
Have you asked them for a copy of the source?

They are only obligated to give out the source if someone asks (if it's not available with purchase/download).

caw
I believe a similar question was asked on Slashdot a while back. Someone had some GPLv2 code that another company was selling. The general response was that it was completely legal, because the company only had to disclose the source code to people who bought the product. Source had to be made available, but it's not so strict as to "publicly available."

I'm not a lawyer so I'd go with one of the links posted for software legal advice.

dangrossman
The first step is to understand the terms under which you offered your code. Unless you have purchased the software from them and requested the code and they failed to make it available to you, or they have publicly made available their software and you've requested the code and they failed to make it available to you, and you've given them reasonable time to reply to these requests, there's no evidence of breach of the license yet.
ctrager
Right, I understand that. At this point, they haven't responded to me at all.
dangrossman
If they're selling the product, then they only have to provide the code to the customers. I could be totally off, but that's my understanding of the GPL -- it creates an obligation to share the code with whoever you distribute it to, not to everyone. In that case, they have no obligation to ever respond to you unless you paid for a copy from them.
rmc
Yes, you only need to provide source code to GPLed programmes to people you have given the software to.

If the company has the software available for public download, then if you download the software from their website, then you are entitled to the code.