| Bell, SuperMicro sued over GPL |
Jun. 11, 2008
 The Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC) has filed two more copyright infringement lawsuits on behalf of the developers of the Linux-based BusyBox utility suite. The suits allege that Bell Microproducts and SuperMicro Computer each violated redistribution stipulations of the GNU General Public License (GPL).
The Bell Microproducts suit pertains to the Hammer MyShare NAS (network-attached storage) appliance (pictured above), which is sold by Bell's Hammer Storage division. The SuperMicro Computer suit is in reference to the SuperMicro IPMI Card (pictured below, at right). As with the MyShare, the IPMI (Intelligent Platform Management Interface) 2.0-compliant remote management card contains the open-source, GPLv2-protected BusyBox firmware, which is used in almost all Linux-based devices. BusyBox combines tiny versions of many common Unix/Linux GNU utilities into a single small executable.
SuperMicro IPMI Card |
On May 28th, LinuxDevices ran a story reporting that a new hacker community site called NAS-central.org alleged that Hammer's MyShare violated the GPL license. According to site co-founder Markus Toth, Hammer refused several times to release the source code. When LinuxDevices asked about the status of the request, it was told by a Hammer spokesperson: "According to the Hammer execs, they have been working for the past few months to get the code, which comes from their supplier. They will post it just as soon as they have it."
According to SFLC counsel Aaron Williamson, the SFLC learned of the MyShare violation when they found out about Toth's investigation. "Markus's investigation confirmed that there was a violation," said Williamson in an interview. "We learn about all the violations from hackers like Markus. They obviously deserve a lot of credit."
According to Williamson, the SFLC contacted both Bell/Hammer and SuperMicro and gave them the opportunity to remedy their violations in private, but they were both unresponsive.
How to lose a GPL lawsuit
So far, the SFLC lawsuits on behalf of BusyBox developers Erik Andersen and Rob Landley have followed a familiar pattern:- Step One -- The companies alleged to be in violation refuse requests to voluntarily distribute the BusyBox source code to downstream recipients.
- Step Two -- The SFLC files a lawsuit.
- Step Three -- Several weeks or months afterward, there is an out of court settlement favorable to BusyBox.
Anyone want to go back and reconsider step one?
The SFLC filed its first GPL lawsuit on behalf of BusyBox in September against Monsoon Multimedia. In its October 30th settlement, Monsoon agreed to remedy its violation, ensure future compliance, and financially compensate the plaintiffs.
Xterasys XR-2408GU Wireless Router |
In November, the SFLC and the BusyBox developers brought suit against Xterasys and High-Gain Antennas for violating the GPLv2 in products including the XR-2408GU Wireless Router (pictured at right). In December, the SFLC filed a similar suit against its most formidable litigation target, Verizon Communications. In early March Xterasys and High-Gain both settled, and later that month, the SFLC reached an out-of-court agreement with Verizon.
The latter suit alleged that Verizon violated the GNU GPLv2 by distributing Actiontec MI424WR wireless routers -- which contained unsanctioned GPLv2 code -- that were used with Verizon's fiber-optic Internet and television service, aka FiOS. Verizon and Actiontec violated the GPL condition that redistributors of BusyBox are required to ensure that every user of the code, or a device containing the code, must be provided access to the program's source code.
In the settlement, which included a financial consideration paid to the plaintiffs by both Verizon and Actiontec, Actiontec promised to appoint an open-source compliance officer and publish the BusyBox source code. The company also agreed to notify previous recipients of BusyBox from Actiontec and its customers, including Verizon, of their rights to the software under the GPL.
"Actiontec opted to handle the majority of the settlement to take most of the terms on themselves, but there was also a settlement from Verizon," commented Williamson.
Asked whether BusyBox had been chosen specifically as the model for all these test cases due to its ubiquity, Williamson said, "We don't choose our clients -- Busybox approached us. They had been doing their own enforcement work for some time, and as with many free software projects they had been having a difficult time getting violators to respond. They ultimately became pretty frustrated."
According to Williamson, GPL violations are particularly prevalent in the embedded world. "Most of the violations that we see are in the embedded Linux space," he said. "In many cases, there's an upstream vendor. The hardware manufacturer buys an embedded Linux distribution from the upstream software vendor and the manufacturers either don't know or don't care enough to comply with the license."
Williamson added that there's no practical -- or legal -- reason that it should take months to acquire the source code and post it, as had been suggested by Hammer. "That's not a legitimate answer," he said. "From the moment that you're distributing software in binary form to the public, you have the obligation to comply with the license at that moment."
The new lawsuits against Bell Microproducts and Super Micro were both filed on June 9 in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Copies of the complaints are available here.
-- Eric Brown
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