BusyBox Drag Two More to Court – When Will These Companies Learn?
July 15th, 2008 by Justin Ryan
The Software Freedom Law Center — which at this point is quickly becoming the law firm of BusyBox, BusyBox, and GPL — is on the case again, having filed two more GPL-violation lawsuits on behalf of the developers of BusyBox, this time against Bell Microproducts and SuperMicro Computer.
The latest suits — which bring nothing new to the pattern that has emerged over the past year — allege that each of the defendants violated the GPL by failing to provide the source code for BusyBox with Linux-based devices that include the software. As usual, the SFLC contacted each company to advise of the breach and offer an opportunity to remedy the issue without legal action, and as usual, they were completely ignored. Now, the countdown begins until both companies eventually settle with the SFLC, providing the source code, appointing an Open Source compliance officer, and paying out undisclosed amounts they could have saved by simply popping "BusyBox lawsuit" into Google and seeing that everyone from the mini to the monster — like multi-billion dollar communications giant Verizon — has been forced into settlement at the crack of the Center's whip.
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Justin Ryan is News Editor for LinuxJournal.com.
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