Bonum Certa Men Certa

GPLv3: V for Validation

Many folks have perceived the new version of the GPLv3 as a vendetta against Microvell, with possible risks (legal, I suppose) involved with their attempting to close the loophole exploited by the Microvell deal.

Wilder contends that, at some point, efforts to block patent licenses that were legally entered into and fully consistent with contract law, as well as the intellectual property laws enacted by Congress, "begin to expose those developing and agreeing to GPLv3 to potential defenses and counterclaims."

Efforts by non-parties to force or induce a party to abrogate a validly entered-into contract or forego entering into a prospective contract can give rise to a cause of action for tortious interference, he said. Tortious interference occurs when a person intentionally damages the plaintiff's contractual or other business relationships.


Of course, the GPL is a license and it would be up to Novell whether they wanted to (or could) comply with the license's terms in order to get usage of all of that code they love to resell. As far as I know, excepting Novell employees, no Free Software developers or projects are contractually obligated to provide Novell code under any specific terms - if Samba wants to go GPLv3 (or proprietary, for that matter), it will be up to Novell to either comply with the license or forego distribution of the newly licensed version.

Neil McAllister takes a closer look at the V: for Vendetta analogy, reminding readers that most of SUSE is not Novell's code and that it is only natural for a programmer to look to strengthen the terms of the license for their code, rather than see it exploited.

Much of the code that Novell packages and sells to its customers as Suse Linux doesn’t belong to Novell. It belongs to the programmers who originally wrote it, and who have licensed it to Novell under very specific terms, as outlined in the GPLv2. The patent indemnification provisions of Novell’s deal with Microsoft clearly ran contrary to the spirit of that licence (if not the letter). Is it any surprise that the GPL’s authors would seek to clarify and strengthen its terms?


I also include a quote from Jeremy Allison's departure from Novell, since it is able to illustrate how many Free Software developers feel about the deal in a way that even Microsoft should understand.

For people who will point out to me we don’t "technically" violate the GPLv2 here’s an argument I recently made on the mailing lists.

"Do you think that if we’d have found what we legally considered a clever way around the Microsoft EULA so we didn’t have to pay for Microsoft licenses and had decided to ship, oh let’s say, "Exchange Server" under this "legal hack" that Microsoft would be silent about it - or we should act aggr[i]eved when they change the EULA to stop us doing this?"


Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

CISA Has a Microsoft Conflict of Interest Problem (CISA Cannot Achieve Its Goals, It Protects the Worst Culprit)
people from Microsoft "speaking for" "Open Source" and for "security"
[Video] Time to Acknowledge Debian Has a Real Problem and This Problem Needs to be Solved
it would make sense to try to resolve conflicts and issues, not exacerbate these
Daniel Pocock elected on ANZAC Day and anniversary of Easter Rising (FSFE Fellowship)
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
 
Mark Shuttleworth, Elio Qoshi & Debian/Ubuntu underage girls
Reprinted with permission from disguised.work
Karen Sandler, Outreachy & Debian Money in Albania
Reprinted with permission from disguised.work
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, April 25, 2024
IRC logs for Thursday, April 25, 2024
Links 26/04/2024: Facebook Collapses, Kangaroo Courts for Patents, BlizzCon Canceled Under Microsoft
Links for the day
Gemini Links 26/04/2024: Music, Philosophy, and Socialising
Links for the day
Microsoft Claims "Goodwill" Is an Asset Valued at $119,163,000,000, Cash Decreased From $34,704,000,000 to $19,634,000,000 and Total Liabilities Grew to $231,123,000,000
Earnings Release FY24 Q3
More Microsoft Cuts: Events Canceled, Real Sales Down Sharply
So they will call (or rebrand) everything "AI" or "Azure" or "cloud" while adding revenues from Blizzard to pretend something is growing
Links 25/04/2024: South Korean Military to Ban iPhone, Armenian Remembrance Day
Links for the day
Gemini Links 25/04/2024: SFTP, VoIP, Streaming, Full-Content Web Feeds, and Gemini Thoughts
Links for the day
Audiocasts/Shows: FLOSS Weekly and mintCast
the latest pair of episodes
[Meme] Arvind Krishna's Business Machines
He is harming Red Hat in a number of ways (he doesn't understand it) and Fedora users are running out of patience (many volunteers quit years ago)
[Video] Debian's Newfound Love of Censorship Has Become a Threat to the Entire Internet
SPI/Debian might end up with rotten tomatoes in the face
Joerg (Ganneff) Jaspert, Dalbergschule Fulda & Debian Death threats
Reprinted with permission from disguised.work
Amber Heard, Junior Female Developers & Debian Embezzlement
Reprinted with permission from disguised.work
[Video] IBM's Poor Results Reinforce the Idea of Mass Layoffs on the Way (Just Like at Microsoft)
it seems likely Red Hat layoffs are in the making
Ulrike Uhlig & Debian, the $200,000 woman who quit
Reprinted with permission from disguised.work
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, April 24, 2024
IRC logs for Wednesday, April 24, 2024
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
Links 24/04/2024: Layoffs and Shutdowns at Microsoft, Apple Sales in China Have Collapsed
Links for the day
Sexism processing travel reimbursement
Reprinted with permission from disguised.work
Girlfriends, Sex, Prostitution & Debian at DebConf22, Prizren, Kosovo
Reprinted with permission from disguised.work
Microsoft is Shutting Down Offices and Studios (Microsoft Layoffs Every Month This Year, Media Barely Mentions These)
Microsoft shutting down more offices (there have been layoffs every month this year)
Balkan women & Debian sexism, WeBoob leaks
Reprinted with permission from disguised.work
Martina Ferrari & Debian, DebConf room list: who sleeps with who?
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 24/04/2024: Advances in TikTok Ban, Microsoft Lacks Security Incentives (It Profits From Breaches)
Links for the day
Gemini Links 24/04/2024: People Returning to Gemlogs, Stateless Workstations
Links for the day
Meike Reichle & Debian Dating
Reprinted with permission from disguised.work
Europe Won't be Safe From Russia Until the Last Windows PC is Turned Off (or Switched to BSDs and GNU/Linux)
Lives are at stake
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, April 23, 2024
IRC logs for Tuesday, April 23, 2024
[Meme] EPO: Breaking the Law as a Business Model
Total disregard for the EPO to sell more monopolies in Europe (to companies that are seldom European and in need of monopoly)
The EPO's Central Staff Committee (CSC) on New Ways of Working (NWoW) and “Bringing Teams Together” (BTT)
The latest publication from the Central Staff Committee (CSC)
Volunteers wanted: Unknown Suspects team
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Debian trademark: where does the value come from?
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock