Re: [libreplanet-discuss] suggestion/help. GPL enforcement.

[Joshua Gay]

>> > Why would you need to wait years?
>> > 
> A previous reply (from Adonay) had suggested the effort before starting
> a lawsuit might take years

If things are moving along swiftly without the help of courts, then it
needn't take years. If there is attrition then it might be that one
needs to seek the help of the courts to help move the matter along more
swiftly.


> Do you mean that is the approach taken when the intellectual property
> rights have been granted to the FSF?

I am talking about works for which the FSF is the copyright holder. As
the licensing & compliance manager at the FSF, it is my job to receive
and act on reports of license violations for works the FSF holds
copyright, and to work with violators to ensure compliance. I follow the
instructions and procedures set by FSF management and our general
counsel. In my previous email I provided a brief overview of our the
general procedure we follow when enforcing the terms of GNU licenses on
free programs and free manuals.

We recommend avoiding the term IP:
<https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/not-ipr.en.html>.

> I fully agree that any negotiation should start out in good faith and in
> the hope that it has been a misunderstanding.  Law suits should not be
> motivated by greed or vindictiveness either.  At any time, if the
> violator agrees to make good, a law suit can be withdraw.

In our experience, we have had a fair amount of success in following The
Principles of Community-Based GPL Enforcement
<https://www.fsf.org/licensing/enforcement-principles> which puts taking
legal action as a last resort.

However, as we state in the principles, "In particular, this list of
principles purposely does not seek to create strict criteria and/or
“escalation and mediation rules” for enforcement action. Efforts to do
that limit the ability of copyright holders to use copyleft licenses for
their intended effect: to stand up for the rights of users to copy,
modify, and redistribute free software."

If in your experience you have found taking legal action sooner rather
than later in the process has been a successful strategy for you when
doing free software license enforcement, then we certainly are not going
to fault you or try to say you are doing it wrong. In fact, it is
incredibly valuable to the FSF to learn from others who have experience
in doing license enforcement on free works. If you would be willing and
able to speak with us about your experience in enforcing the licensing
terms of freely licensed works, we would certainly appreciate that.

If so, please follow-up with me offlist and we can can arrange a time
that works best for you and my colleagues to talk. Of course we
understand if you agreed to an NDA in a settlement and can't speak of
specifics, but, such an NDA shouldn't preclude you from sharing a link
to the initial filing in court if you did bring suit against a violator
so even if you were to only share that with us (offlist if you prefer)
that would be valuable info to us.

Best,

Josh