Say what you want about GPLv3, but the update to the most popular open source software license continues to close loopholes that have been used to avoid sharing source code, patent protection and other freedoms that the authors intended. Still, we have yet to see whether this closes off any appeal of the GPL and even open source in general for vendors, developers and users.
Read more »Open Standards, Access To Knowledge Discussed At IGF
Intellectual property-related issues were a topic avoided by governments during the 2003-2005 World Summit on the Information Society, which gave way to the Internet Governance Forum (IGF). But at the second IGF in Rio de Janeiro last week there were several IP-related workshops.
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GPL Infringement Lawsuits Target Two More Companies
The Software Freedom Law Center has filed two more GPL infringement lawsuits on behalf of an open-source software project. The second-ever GPL lawsuit alleges that Xterasys and High-Gan Antennas failed to honor "source-code transparency," in violation of Busybox's GPLv2 license.
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Second Round of GPL Infringement Lawsuits Filed on Behalf of BusyBox Developers
The Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC) today announced that it has filed two more copyright infringement lawsuits on behalf of its clients, two principal developers of BusyBox, alleging violation of the GNU General Public License (GPL). The defendants in the lawsuits are Xterasys Corporation and High-Gain Antennas, LLC.
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A GPL compliance case against Iliad
Several free software writers have
called Iliad, one of the main telecom companies in France, to respect
their work, and a judicial proceeding has begun to demand the respect
of their licence. This action follows repeated refusals of Iliad to
publish the source code of the Free Software included in their Freebox.
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Affero: A new GPL for software as a service
"The Affero General Public License, a new variation of the seminal General Public License (GPL) specifically for one situation the regular GPL doesn't address, is now final..."
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States shore up pitch to extend Microsoft oversight
A number of states including California and New York filed legal briefs Friday supporting their earlier request to extend the government's restrictive antitrust oversight of Microsoft Corp. The states said in a court filing that extended oversight of the Redmond, Wash.-based software giant is necessary for "meaningful marketplace competition."
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Free Software Foundation Releases GNU Affero General Public License Version 3
"BOSTON, Massachusetts, USA—Monday, November 19, 2007—The Free Software Foundation (FSF) today published the GNU Affero General Public License version 3 (GNU AGPLv3).
Read more »Second draft of GNU SaaS licence: GNU Affero GPL
"FSF have just published the 2nd draft of the GNU Affero GPL. The GNU Affero GPL will be a modified version of GPLv3. The difference, very roughly, is that it includes a requirement that if the software is used on a public server, users must be able to get the source code..."
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Blue GNU Wrong About Xming - Xming No Longer GPL
Recently, Blue GNU reported that the Xming software is released under the terms of the GNU GPLv2, and that the developer might be violating its terms. Harrison now states his program is no longer under the GPL. So here's an update.
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Sun tiptoes into GPLv3
Sun Microsystems will release its xVM Ops Center virtualisation management application under the General Public Licence version 3 (GPLv3), the company revealed at the Oracle OpenWorld conference in San Francisco.
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FSF Confirms Xming Restrictions Not Allowed
The Free Software Foundation has confirmed that Xming developer, Colin Harrison, has overreached his limits by attempting to impose additional restrictions beyond the requirements of the GNU GPL and LGPL.
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Comcast Sued Over BitTorrent Blocking - UPDATED
"A California man filed suit in state court Tuesday against internet service provider Comcast, arguing that the company's secret use of technology to limit peer-to-peer applications such as BitTorrent violates federal computer fraud laws, their user contracts and anti-fraudulent advertising statutes..."
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Is Xming Another Example of Misunderstanding Libre Licenses?
Xming appears to be a useful program for accessing and running your GNU/Linux applications remotely from a Windows computer. It is licensed under the GPLv2. But just how free is it, really?
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Battle for the transparency
It's been a while now, and I'm still trying to enforce HZN (Croatian national standards body, or CSI) to disclose the information on members of their TC that voted unconditional yes for Microsoft OOXML. It's no more about OOXML. It's about transparency, about my right to know who are the people that declare standards, and about my right to hold them responsible for their actions.
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