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Allwinner GPL violations

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Re: Allwinner GPL violations

#21

Post by simosx »

scott00 wrote: post #8

Seems like pretty blatant and long-lived violations. Anybody know why somebody doesn't take them to court and try to get an import ban, monetary damages, or both? If the punishment for blatantly violating the GPL or LGPL for years at a time while raking in millions of dollars in profits is getting bitched at on the internet, it seems likely to me that a lot of companies will do the cost-benefit analysis and decide th…

If there is any LGPL code in that library, then it can be separated into a secondary library. And the licensing issue could get resolved (in new versions).

It would be great if the code of that library (hardware acceleration for audio/video decoding/encoding) was released with an open license. I hope it happens.

What is sad, is that the OP in the Google Group thread is using the "bitch about it hard and loud" strategy. Trying to be negative and so on. It's not a constructive attitude.

Re: Allwinner GPL violations

#22

Post by JohnTHaller »

scott00 wrote: post #8

Seems like pretty blatant and long-lived violations. Anybody know why somebody doesn't take them to court and try to get an import ban, monetary damages, or both? If the punishment for blatantly violating the GPL or LGPL for years at a time while raking in millions of dollars in profits is getting bitched at on the internet, it seems likely to me that a lot of companies will do the cost-benefit analysis and decide th…

The simple answer is "because money". It costs quite a bit to be able to do any of that. And that's not something most open source projects or developers can come anywhere close to affording.

Source: I run PortableApps.com and have had my GPL software used illegally by competing projects in other countries as well as at least one Fortune 500 here in the states.

Re: Allwinner GPL violations

#23

Post by phkahler »

vidarh wrote: post #18
scott00 wrote: post #8

Seems like pretty blatant and long-lived violations. Anybody know why somebody doesn't take them to court and try to get an import ban, monetary damages, or both? If the punishment for blatantly violating the GPL or LGPL for years at a time while raking in millions of dollars in profits is getting bitched at on the internet, it seems likely to me that a lot of companies will do the cost-benefit analysis and decide th…

To have standing in most places, the "somebody" would need to be an author of one of the works they have infringed on. That limits the pool substantially to begin with. Then that somebody would need to be willing to take the risk and cost of a lawsuit that could drag out for ages, with an uncertain outcome. That's why we see as few lawsuits as we do.

>> Then that somebody would need to be willing to take the risk and cost of a lawsuit that could drag out for ages, with an uncertain outcome.

I think an author with a proper lawyer would be able to use the DMCA to shut them down rather quickly - meaning it won't drag out for ages.

Re: Allwinner GPL violations

#24

Post by simosx »

lfam wrote: post #15

Allwinner's SOCs are popular as Raspberry Pi-ish single-board computers for hobbyist Linux users who want a dirt-cheap home server. What are some alternatives that have better track records with the GPL?

As far as I understand, until recently Allwinner has been doing kernel development with sole focus to get Android shipped as fast as possible. It is a fact that they did not work to get mainline Linux support for their SoCs.

Developing for mainline might be slower but in the long-run it's better and even cheaper. I think that they are seeing this now.

You can check the slides at https://fosdem.org/2015/schedule/event/allwinner_upstream/ for the current level of support. This is about the community work for mainline support.

Re: Allwinner GPL violations

#25

Post by phkahler »

JohnTHaller wrote: post #22
scott00 wrote: post #8

Seems like pretty blatant and long-lived violations. Anybody know why somebody doesn't take them to court and try to get an import ban, monetary damages, or both? If the punishment for blatantly violating the GPL or LGPL for years at a time while raking in millions of dollars in profits is getting bitched at on the internet, it seems likely to me that a lot of companies will do the cost-benefit analysis and decide th…

The simple answer is "because money". It costs quite a bit to be able to do any of that. And that's not something most open source projects or developers can come anywhere close to affording. Source: I run PortableApps.com and have had my GPL software used illegally by competing projects in other countries as well as at least one Fortune 500 here in the states.

Copyright violation carries heavy penalties these days, particularly in the US. If you can prove it, get a lawyer to work on contingency. IANAL but this seems easy.

Re: Allwinner GPL violations

#26

Post by JohnTHaller »

phkahler wrote: post #25
JohnTHaller wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The simple answer is "because money". It costs quite a bit to be able to do any of that. And that's not something most open source projects or developers can come anywhere close to affording. Source: I run PortableApps.com and have had my GPL software used illegally by competing projects in other countries as well as at least one Fortune 500 here in the states.

Copyright violation carries heavy penalties these days, particularly in the US. If you can prove it, get a lawyer to work on contingency. IANAL but this seems easy.

It carries heavy penalties for large players with on-staff or retained legal firms. For the rest of us, you can forget about it (source: multiple lawyers, none of whom would work on contingency for a case like this). I can absolutely prove it, but it doesn't matter. At least I got them to stop but not before they'd passed off my software as someone else's to millions.

Re: Allwinner GPL violations

#27

Post by Xylakant »

phkahler wrote: post #23
vidarh wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To have standing in most places, the "somebody" would need to be an author of one of the works they have infringed on. That limits the pool substantially to begin with. Then that somebody would need to be willing to take the risk and cost of a lawsuit that could drag out for ages, with an uncertain outcome. That's why we see as few lawsuits as we do.

>> Then that somebody would need to be willing to take the risk and cost of a lawsuit that could drag out for ages, with an uncertain outcome. I think an author with a proper lawyer would be able to use the DMCA to shut them down rather quickly - meaning it won't drag out for ages.

DCMA would get their repositories shut down and code taken off the internet - but it would not get the code off the devices etc. You'd need a lawsuit against a company based elsewhere - that's a pretty bad timesink potentially.

Re: Allwinner GPL violations

#28

Post by simosx »

phkahler wrote: post #23
vidarh wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To have standing in most places, the "somebody" would need to be an author of one of the works they have infringed on. That limits the pool substantially to begin with. Then that somebody would need to be willing to take the risk and cost of a lawsuit that could drag out for ages, with an uncertain outcome. That's why we see as few lawsuits as we do.

>> Then that somebody would need to be willing to take the risk and cost of a lawsuit that could drag out for ages, with an uncertain outcome. I think an author with a proper lawyer would be able to use the DMCA to shut them down rather quickly - meaning it won't drag out for ages.

I thought DMCA was not kosher (https://www.eff.org/issues/dmca). Also, not in the US.

That guy who started the thread on Google Groups (Luc), is prone to polarizing the discussion. I suppose that Allwinner can fix the issue and still keep their library closed. That would be bad for everyone.

Re: Allwinner GPL violations

#29

Post by oracle2025 »

They only people who may complain about those violations are the copyrightholders of the code that has been violated. Everyone else who is chiming in here and bashing the offender is IMHO suffering from some kind of torches and pitchforks mob mentality.

GPL violations as far as I understand it are always a matter to be settled between the original authors and the offenders. I am not aware that the GPL gives bystanders and angry fanboys'n girls the right to sue anyone.

Re: Allwinner GPL violations

#30

Post by dubya »

oracle2025 wrote: post #29

They only people who may complain about those violations are the copyrightholders of the code that has been violated. Everyone else who is chiming in here and bashing the offender is IMHO suffering from some kind of torches and pitchforks mob mentality. GPL violations as far as I understand it are always a matter to be settled between the original authors and the offenders. I am not aware that the GPL gives bystander…

I don't know of the legal status, but I believe the GPL originated when Stallman and others wanted access to the source code for the drivers of a printer. Anyone who uses the software, which is anyone who uses the hardware, should have standing to demand the code.
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