Free software defenders file suit against Monsoon Media over Linux

The Software Freedom Law Center said Thursday that it has filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against a consumer electronics company, Monsoon Multimedia, for allegedly violating the license that governs the use of the Linux operating system.

This is the first case filed in the United States against a company for allegedly not complying with the terms of the General Public License (GPL) version 2, according to the SFLC, which provides legal representation for free software projects. The GPL is used by Linux and countless other free and open-source software programs.

The suit was filed on behalf of the creators of BusyBox, a set of Unix utilities used in embedded systems and licensed under the GPL version 2. (Click here to see a PDF of the complaint.)

Under the terms of the GPL version 2, people can use GPL software within their own products. But when they redistribute that software, they must make the source code available.

A request to see the source code used by Monsoon Multimedia came up in a discussion forum, but a request sent by the SFLC to the firm was not answered, according to an SFLC representative.

Representatives from Monsoon Multimedia, which makes digital consumer devices for viewing video on the PC or TV, did not comment on the suit on Thursday.

The plaintiffs in the case are Erik Andersen and Rob Landley, who hold the copyright to the BusyBox software. They are seeking damages and an injunction.

The Free Software Foundation has made many efforts over the years to enforce the license, but typically has taken a much lower-key approach. A programmer in Germany, Harald Welte, has been more aggressive, though, in a case that was settled.

Linux is widely used inside consumer electronics devices, such as the digital video recorder TiVo and those that Monsoon Multimedia makes.

[Astinsan]

They don't need to give up there code

I thought that they didn't have to give up the code they put in? The OS shouldn't be an issue to distribute.

[megazone]

Yes, they do

If you start with GPL'd code and make any changes or additions, then all of those changes and additions MUST be released back to the community. Period. That's a fundamental principle of the GPL. And the GPL is very 'contagious' so it is hard to mix code and not make all the code fall under GPL.

There are clear lines - for example, you can use a Linux kernel and write your own 'userland' that runs on it. The kernel is GPL, and any changes you make must be released, but your userland can be under whatever license you'd like. And just because you have some GPL software, say an ftp client, doesn't mean other software is sucked into the GPL. But if you make alterations or additions to that FTP client code - that new code must be release. And if you decide you like some of the code and cut and paste it into something completely different - say an SSH client - congratulations, you just made your new client GPL'd code, ALL of it, and you have to release it under the GPL.

If Monsoon did something stupid like mixing GPL'd code with licensed code they're not allowed to release and didn't have the rights to GPL - well, they're in trouble. They couldn't satisfy both licenses, so they'd have to stop shipping and re-write their codebase to de-conflict licenses. Worst case they get forced to spill their source, then get sued by whomever they licensed other code from for violating *that* license.

Basically, it sounds like they screwed up - potentially big time.