[ale] Fwd: [Politech] German court grants injunction against GPL infringement [ip]

[Dow Hurst]

Thanks Robert!  Excellent news.  We need these type ruling to be common!
Dow


Robert Reese wrote:
> Of interest!
> 
> *********** BEGIN FORWARDED MESSAGE  ***********
> On 4/19/2004 at 11:34 PM Declan McCullagh <declan at well.com> wrote:
> 
> 
>>-------- Original Message --------
>>Subject: [Fwd: [EDRi-forum] Preliminary Injunction for GPL Infringement 
>>Granted  byGerman Court]
>>Date: Sun, 18 Apr 2004 12:46:35 +0200
>>From: Ralf Bendrath <bendrath at zedat.fu-berlin.de>
>>Reply-To: bendrath at zedat.fu-berlin.de
>>To: Declan McCullagh <declan at well.com>
>>
>>Something for Politech?
>>R.
>>
>>[forwards snipped. --DBM]
>>
>>
>>>From http://www.netfilter.org/news/2004-04-15-sitecom-gpl.html
>>
>>
>>Of interest to editors and journalists covering:
>>Linux, Free Software, Open Source, Copyright Law
>>
>>MUNICH COURT GRANTS PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION FOR INFRINGING USE OF GPL
>>LICENSED SOFTWARE
>>
>>BERLIN, Germany - Apr. 14, 2004 -- The Munich district court granted a
>>preliminary injuction against Sitecom Germany GmbH
>>(http://www.sitecom.com/). This injunctive relieve has been applied by
>>the
>>netfilter/iptables project (http://www.netfilter.org/).
>>
>>Sitecom is offering a wireless access router product (WL-122) based on
>>software licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL), developed
>>by
>>the netfilter/iptables project.
>>
>>The GNU GPL is a license commonly used for many free software projects,
>>such
>>as the Linux Operating System Kernel.  The GPL licenses software free of
>>cost, but requires any redistributor to provide the full source code.
>>
>>According to the court order, Sitecom did not fulfill the obligations
>>imposed by the GNU General Public License covering the
>>netfilter/iptables
>>software. In particular, Sitecom did not make any source code offering
>>or include the GPL license terms with their products.
>>
>>Following a warning notice, Sitecom refused to sign a declaration to
>>cease
>>and desist. Thus, the netfilter/iptables project was compelled to ask
>>the
>>court for a preliminnary injuction, banning Sitecom from distributing
>>its
>>product, unless Sitecom complies with all obligations imposed by the GNU
>>GPL.
>>
>>"To my knowledge, this is the first case in which a judicial decision
>>has
>>been decreed on the applicability and the validity of the GNU GPL", says
>>Dr.
>>Till Jaeger, partner of the Berlin and Munich based law firm JBB
>>Rechtsanwaelte (http://www.jbb.de/) that represented the
>>netfilter/iptables
>>project in the litigation.
>>
>>This preliminary injunction follows a series of out-of-court settlement
>>agreements that the netfilter/iptables project has concluded within a
>>short
>>period of time. When asked about the reasons for the sudden rise in
>>legal
>>pressure for GPL compliance, Harald Welte, Chairman of the Netfilter
>>Core
>>Team states:
>>
>>"We are not in any way opposing the commercial use of free and open
>>source
>>software. Specifically, there is no legal risk of using GPL licensed
>>software in commercial products.  But vendors have to comply with the
>>license terms, just like they would have to with any other, even
>>proprietary
>>software license agreement."
>>
>>
>>About the netfilter/iptables project
>>
>>The netfilter/iptables project provides state-of-the-art network
>>security
>>software for Linux firewalling, packet filter and network address
>>translation (NAT), distributed as Free Software under the terms of the
>>GNU
>>General Public License.  Being part of the linux operating system
>>kernel,
>>the software is running on virtually every Linux installation.
>>
>>For more information on the project or the software, visit
>>http://www.netfilter.org/
>>
>>
>>Media contact:
>>netfilter core team
>>Harald Welte
>>Phone: +49-30-24033902
>>Email: laforge at netfilter.org
>>
>>_______________________________________________
>>Politech mailing list
>>Archived at http://www.politechbot.com/
>>Moderated by Declan McCullagh (http://www.mccullagh.org/)
> 
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Dow Hurst                  Office: 770-499-3428            *
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