From info at sfconservancy.org Thu Jan 9 15:51:30 2025 From: info at sfconservancy.org (Software Freedom Conservancy) Date: Thu, 9 Jan 2025 07:51:30 -0800 Subject: SFC-funded lawsuit gets software repair and reinstall for users of AVM routers Message-ID: SFC-funded lawsuit gets software repair and reinstall for users of AVM routers AVM chooses not to appeal purchaser's suit that established users' rights on wireless router URL: https://sfconservancy.org/news/2025/jan/09/avm-copyleft-lawsuit-resolved-with-install/ Social media: https://social.sfconservancy.org/notice/ApuUGqFodP5c7JhPAu https://x.com/conservancy/status/1877381229869404568 Software Freedom Conservancy (SFC) today announces the conclusion of a lawsuit that we funded and supported in Germany. (As is typical with German cases, SFC was unable to give public updates during the case.) The defendant, Berlin-based AVM, ultimately delivered the necessary information to reinstall modified software on their device. Delivery of this information resolved the lawsuit. The plaintiff was Sebastian Steck, who received a grant from SFC to pursue this work. Steck purchased an AVM router in May 2021 and quickly found that the source code candidate which AVM sent him could not be compiled and reinstalled onto his router. AVM, the largest home router manufacturer in Germany, refused to correct its source code candidate. Steck sued AVM in a Berlin court in July 2023. Months after the lawsuit was filed, AVM finally provided Steck with all remaining source code that Steck requested, including “the scripts used to control … installation of the library”. Steck brought his claim under copyleft terms of the Lesser General Public License, version 2.1 (LGPLv2.1). As part of the case's resolution, AVM paid Steck's attorney's fees. The appeal deadline elapsed two weeks ago. AVM chose not to appeal the court's ruling on the fees. The favorable result of this lawsuit exemplifies the power of copyleft — granting users the freedom to modify, repair, and secure the software on their own devices. Companies like AVM receive these immense benefits themselves. This lawsuit reminded AVM that downstream users must receive those very same rights under copyleft. Historically, lawsuits have focused on the copyrights licensed under GPL (or the GPL and LGPL together). Steck's lawsuit uniquely focused exclusively on users' rights under the LGPL. Steck's work showed that despite being a "Lesser" license than GPL, LGPLv2.1 still guarantees users the right to repair, modify and reinstall modified versions of the software on their device. There is now no doubt that both GPL and LGPL mandate the device owner's ability to make changes to the software in the flash memory so those changes persist across reboots. AVM initially tried to claim that changes in volatile memory (RAM) would suffice, but Steck successfully argued that users must be able to install such changes to the permanent storage. AVM eventually provided the required installation information for just that. Both SFC and Steck remain frustrated that companies like AVM usually ignore user requests under copyleft until a lawsuit is filed. Nevertheless, we are happy to see that the legal process confirmed Steck's rights, and required AVM to pay Steck's legal costs. “I am pleased that this litigation compelled AVM to provide the compilation and reinstallation information in the filings,” Steck said. “I look forward to them amending their publicly available source code archives with the complete scripts used to control compilation and installation soon.” In the meantime, we at SFC published these updated source code archives ourselves, along with the key court documents in the case. [0] At SFC we continue to work fervently toward a future where everyone has the practical ability to repair and modify the software on their devices. If you share this desire for change and want to support our efforts to make it a reality, we strongly encourage you to donate now. [1] We are nearing the end of our annual fundraiser and have nearly reached our match goal, but we're not there yet. Anything you can donate to help us will be doubled through our matching sponsors, until the match is reached. Please donate now to take advantage of this opportunity to maximize your impact! [0] https://sfconservancy.org/copyleft-compliance/avm.html [1] https://sfconservancy.org/sustainer/ From info at sfconservancy.org Tue Jan 14 14:32:53 2025 From: info at sfconservancy.org (Software Freedom Conservancy) Date: Tue, 14 Jan 2025 06:32:53 -0800 Subject: SFC Files Amicus Brief in =?iso-8859-1?Q?S?= =?iso-8859-1?Q?upport_of_Users'_Rights_under_AGPLv3=A77?= Message-ID: SFC Files Amicus Brief in Support of Users' Rights under AGPLv3§7 SFC Defends Copyleft Licensing in Important Federal Circuit Appeal URL: https://sfconservancy.org/news/2025/jan/13/neo4j-amicus/ Social media: https://social.sfconservancy.org/notice/Aq4joknQzFHA6OgfGC https://x.com/conservancy/status/1879172711462903819 SFC filed an amicus brief in the ongoing case of Neo4j, Inc. v. PureThink, LLC, which is now appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The appeal focuses on a downstream licensee's right under the Affero General Public License, version 3 (and similar rights under GPLv3 and LGPLv3) to remove “Further Restrictions” — even when such restrictions are put in place by original licensors. SFC was proud to stand up for this important right under copyleft, and appears to be the only organization that filed an amicus brief in this case. While the case in the lower court covered many issues, SFC's amicus brief focuses on one key important issue: the right for licensees — be it for commercial or non-commercial reasons — to remove further restrictions placed by Neo4j — pursuant to this unqualified right enshrined in AGPLv3§7¶4: If the Program as you received it, or any part of it, contains a notice stating that it is governed by this License along with a term that is a further restriction, you may remove that term. Neo4j had appended the non-free Commons Clause [0] at the end of the the full, unmodified text of the AGPLv3 (including its original preamble) to create what Neo4j dubbed the “Neo4j Sweden Software License”. There was no dispute that the so-called “Commons Clause” was a “further restriction” that could be removed under AGPLv3 §7¶4. But Neo4j had argued (and the lower court agreed) that this right was in conflict with AGPLv3 §10¶3 (which, in part, prohibits licensees from adding “further restrictions”). Neo4j further argued (and the lower court agreed) that since §10¶3 did not mention licensors explicitly, then not only must licensors have the right to add “further restrictions” but this implicit right trumped the licensees' explicit right to remove such restrictions under §7¶4. SFC's amicus brief in this case [1] argues that the lower court erred when it agreed with Neo4j's interpretation of AGPLv3§§7/10. Neo4j included the entire text of the AGPLv3, including AGPLv3 §7 and the AGPLv3 preamble, and licensees legitimately were within their rights to follow what the terms said (as informed by the preamble) and remove the appended proprietarizing modifier. Our brief provided detailed legal analysis that we hope will convince the Court to uphold the principles of software freedom and users' rights under copyleft in this situation. Amicus briefs take a great deal of effort, and unfortunately the appellate court is not obligated to give them any weight. Nevertheless, we do hope the Court and other organizations will hear our voice on this important matter. The language of AGPLv3§7¶4 and §10¶3 is found in other GPLs. The lower court's interpretation, if upheld on appeal, could radically alter the community's understanding of whether and how “further restrictions” (and not just the so-called “Commons Clause”) may be added and removed. SFC thanks outside counsel Aaron Williamson who helped with this brief. You can review SFC's amicus brief in full here. [2] [0] https://sfconservancy.org/blog/2018/aug/22/commons-clause/ [1] https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ca9.0aa0c11f-c743-41cd-a821-d077e41e76ee/gov.uscourts.ca9.0aa0c11f-c743-41cd-a821-d077e41e76ee.34.1_1.pdf [2] https://sfconservancy.org/static/docs/sfc-neo4j-amicus-brief.pdf From info at sfconservancy.org Fri Jul 11 16:03:03 2025 From: info at sfconservancy.org (Software Freedom Conservancy) Date: Fri, 11 Jul 2025 09:03:03 -0700 Subject: SFC Files Updated Motion for Summary Adjudication in Historic Vizio Case Message-ID: <87ple690lk.fsf@ebb.org> URL: https://sfconservancy.org/news/2025/jul/10/sfc-updates-motion-for-summary-adjudication-vizio/ Fedi: https://social.sfconservancy.org/objects/d2267bae-856b-4704-9479-0b6e35ed529b Software Freedom Conservancy (SFC) announces that we seek summary adjudication on a key issue in our case against the TV manufacturer, Vizio. This Motion for Summary Adjudication (“MSA”) [1] is an important next step in SFC's ongoing case against Vizio [2] — who has been in violation of the copyleft terms of the General Public License, version 2 (GPLv2) and Lesser General Public License, version 2.1 (LGPLv2.1) for many years. SFC's renewed MSA [3] specifically asks Judge Sandy N. Leal of the Superior Court of California in Orange County to rule — as a matter of law — that SFC has a right as a third-party beneficary under GPLv2. Third-party beneficiaries (“3PBs”) under contract is a right often sought in situations where an agreement between two other parties specifically intended to give a benefit to someone else. (Below is an example of how 3PB claims typically work (*).) SFC filed its claim not as a copyright holder of the programs in question, but as a purchaser of Vizio TVs. When SFC discovered that the complete, corresponding source code (“CCS”) was not provided for these devices, SFC filed the lawsuit to demand the CCS as a 3PB. GPLv2 and LGPLv2.1 are agreements between licensors (e.g., copyright holders) of software and companies that incorporate that software into their devices. SFC, as a third party, bought these Vizio TVs &mdash: knowing they were just general-purpose computers with a display attached — hoping to repurpose the devices for deployments such as video chat clients for BBB or for displays at SFC's FOSSY [4] event. To do this, SFC needs the CCS (including the “scripts used to control compilation and installation of the executable”). Vizio has failed to provide the CCS. In fact, Vizio continues to argue that SFC doesn't have standing to demand CCS in court as a 3PB. SFC's MSA asks the Court to rule, as a matter of law, that SFC has standing and rights as a 3PB. SFC previously filed a similar MSA [5] on 1 December 2023. Judge Leal partially denied that motion [6] on 26 March 2024. Vizio's primary objection was an (incorrect) claim that Free Software Foundation (“FSF”) did not agree that the GPLv2 was meant to give rights to third-parties. SFC has always believed the 3PB right under GPLv2 was self-evident, for many reasons, including but not limited to the text of GPLv2 itself. GPLv2§3(b) requires redistributors to `to give any third party' an opportunity to receive CCS. Sadly, Vizio convinced Judge Leal in Vizio's response [7] to the prior motion that FSF's opinion could be a relevant fact to SFC's 3PB claim, and that it was possible FSF might disagree with SFC regarding 3PB rights. Vizio subpoenaed FSF, and — represented by FSF's Executive Director, Zoë Kooyman — FSF gave a deposition in the case and a declaration in support of SFC's new motion [8]. In short, we have shown how foolish Vizio was to assert to the judge that charities who are dedicated to software freedom and the rights of users might possibly disagree on an issue of this importance. Winning an MSA carries a high burden — Judge Leal must be convinced that no issue of fact remains on the issue. To succeed, the judge must rule as a matter of law that the 3PB right exists in GPLv2 and LGPLv2.1. SFC is confident in our chances for this motion, but, if not successful, SFC is fully prepared and expects to adjudicate this case at trial (starting September 22, 2025). After many delays in the case, SFC is excited to announce that in late 2025 — regardless of the outcome of this particular motion — we expect to successfully adjudicate this key issue of third-party beneficary rights under the GPLv2 and LGPLv2.1. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Footnotes: (*) Here's an example unrelated to software that explains the concept of “third party beneficary” (“3PB”): Imagine if Alice is a carpenter with a niece named Charlotte, who is just about to start college. Bob wants Alice to fix his stairs. Alice wants to help Charlotte pay tutition for school, so she alters her standard contract so Bob has to pay Charlotte the fee that would normally go to Alice. If Bob reneges on this promise, Charlotte would have the right enforce her claim to that fee against Bob, even though Charlotte isn't a party to the carpentry contract between Alice and Bob. References: [1] https://sfconservancy.org/copyleft-compliance/glossary.html#summary-judgment [2] https://sfconservancy.org/vizio [3] https://sfconservancy.org/docs/2025-05-23_SFC-vs-Vizio_second-SFC-Motion-for-Summary-Adjudication.pdf [4] https://fossy.us/ [5] https://sfconservancy.org/docs/software-freedom-conservancy-v-vizio_2023-12-01_SFC-Motion-Summary-Adjudication.pdf [6] https://sfconservancy.org/docs/2024-03-26_SFC-vs-Vizio_order-partially-granting-SFC-first-MSA.pdf [7] https://sfconservancy.org/docs/2024-02-01_SFC-vs-Vizio_Vizio-response-to-first-SFC-MSA.pdf [8] https://sfconservancy.org/docs/2025-05-23_SFC-vs-Vizio_second-SFC-Motion-for-Summary-Adjudication.pdf#page=34 -- Become a Conservancy Supporter Now: https://sfconservancy.org/sustainer/ From info at sfconservancy.org Mon Jul 28 19:39:09 2025 From: info at sfconservancy.org (Software Freedom Conservancy) Date: Mon, 28 Jul 2025 12:39:09 -0700 Subject: FOSS Community Invited to Historic Copyleft Trial =?utf-8?Q?=E2=80=94?= Apply now for Selective Travel Grants to Attend Vizio trial in Third-Party Beneficiary Case Message-ID: <87seigt89u.fsf@ebb.org> URL: https://sfconservancy.org/news/2025/jul/24/travel-grants-for-vizio-trial-to-foss-community/ Fedi: https://social.sfconservancy.org/notice/AwT0sObzrvH5Jm4nGS FOSS COMMUNITY INVITED TO HISTORIC COPYLEFT TRIAL Apply now for Selective Travel Grants to Attend Vizio trial in Third-Party Beneficiary Case Software Freedom Conservancy (SFC) welcomes applications from members of the Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) community to attend the state court trial in the SFC v. Vizio case [1]. The trial will take place in Santa Ana, Orange County, California from September 22–30, 2025. If you are interested, please follow the instructions below to apply for a travel grant to attend the trial. These grants are limited and will be awarded on a competitive basis. SFC's competitive travel grant program is open to members of the FOSS community who wish to attend the Vizio [1] trial. We specifically seek individuals with a proven track record of writing and publishing interesting online videos, podcasts, articles, blog posts, or on “social media” platforms about complex issues related to FOSS. Successful candidates will have documented experience explaining complex FOSS policy issues in an accessible manner to other enthusiasts who may not have the time available to follow the complexity. Qualified individuals will receive paid travel expenses to attend and observe the Vizio trial at the Santa Ana Court House at 700 W Civic Center Dr, Santa Ana, CA 92701. The travel expenses will be subject to SFC's Travel Grant Policy [2]. (Note under that policy, SFC can offer to pre-book airfare and hotel costs, but additional expenses are reimbursed on NET-30 terms after submission of the expenses.) Applicants should submit their application via email to [3]. Successful applications should include the following information in English (and do note the word limit counts): • Brief biography not to exceed 500 words. • Brief essay — not to exceed 1,000 words — explaining your interest in copyleft, the Vizio case in particular, and your plans to document and publish information about the case before and during trial. • Your location of origin for travel (including departure airport if you're planning on air travel). • URLs linking to the following (no word limit on what's at the URLs themselves): □ three past publications about FOSS policy — including general statistics on engagement with those publications. (These can be any form, including but not limited to online videos, conference talk recordings, podcasts, “social media” threads, blog posts, articles, or longer-form publications.) □ a link to your CV or résumé. There is no set number of travel grants that SFC will provide; these will be given on a competitive basis to qualified candidates. Candidates will be evaluated (— and first round of travel grants awarded —) starting on Thursday, July 31, 2025 at 23:59:59 (Anywhere on Earth (AoE time) ). Applications are still welcome after that time, but after that datetime, applications will be evaluated on a rolling basis. While we welcome applications from established journalists, policy analysts, and authors, we also welcome applications from individuals for whom this will be their first time writing about a live policy event or court case. We welcome applications — for example — from law students who would like a unique opportunity to witness the legal aspects of copyleft first-hand. References: [1] https://sfconservancy.org/vizio [2] https://sfconservancy.org/projects/policies/conservancy-travel-policy.html [3] mailto:travelforvizio at sfconservancy.org -- Software Freedom Conservancy — https://sfconservancy.org/ From info at sfconservancy.org Fri Aug 1 22:13:20 2025 From: info at sfconservancy.org (Software Freedom Conservancy) Date: Fri, 1 Aug 2025 15:13:20 -0700 Subject: Software Freedom Conservancy gives its first Distinguished Service Award in Software Freedom to Lance Albertson Message-ID: Software Freedom Conservancy gives its first Distinguished Service Award in Software Freedom to Lance Albertson URL: https://sfconservancy.org/news/2025/aug/01/distinguished-award-in-lance-albertson/ Social media: https://social.sfconservancy.org/notice/AwjtYcDu9ipfkWkNTE Free software projects can't thrive without support for their contributors to communicate and collaborate. For over 18 years, Lance Albertson has devoted himself to providing critically needed infrastructure for hundreds of the most important free and open source projects through his work at Oregon State University's Open Source Lab (OSUOSL) [0]. Besides doing technical work to maintain and improve these services, he has selflessly mentored and supported generations of the Lab's students as they develop their own skills. Even prior to OSUOSL, he contributed to free software as a developer and package maintainer for Gentoo Linux. Today at the Free and Open Source Software Yearly conference [1] in Portland, Oregon, USA, the Software Freedom Conservancy (SFC) honored Albertson's invaluable work with its first ever Distinguished Service Award in Software Freedom. SFC Community Organizer and Non-Profit Problem Solver Daniel Pono Takamori -- himself an OSUOSL alum -- presented the award on FOSSY's keynote stage, sharing, "Lance Albertson has helped the free and open source community in innumerable ways. Whether it's training and supporting students, helping them work with large open source projects and foundations, or just learning what it's like to work as part of a team in the open, Lance provides critical support for invaluable free software projects; infrastructure that without which we wouldn't have the robust ecosystem able to power today's modern technology stacks. I'm so proud and honored to be able to give this award to Lance." After receiving the Award, Albertson said, "I'm so surprised and very thankful. I've been doing this work for a very long time and it's nice to see a lot of many familiar faces that have come through my program sitting out there in the audience." "It's so great to see our work recognized, and I'm so happy to share this with the lab." The Award includes a cash gift of $1,024 and a laser-cut wooden plaque made with free software and free hardware by SFC's Operations Manager Tracy Homer. Award winners are listed on the awards page [2]. FOSSY runs through Sunday, August 3rd. Those in Portland, OR, can register on-site and attend. A public livestream is also available on the streaming page [3]. [0] https://osuosl.org [1] https://2025.fossy.us/ [2] https://sfconservancy.org/activities/awards [3] https://2025.fossy.us/streaming/ From bkuhn at sfconservancy.org Thu Nov 13 18:56:25 2025 From: bkuhn at sfconservancy.org (=?utf-8?Q?Bradley_M=2E_K=C3=BChn?=) Date: Thu, 13 Nov 2025 10:56:25 -0800 Subject: Watch a hearing in SFC's Vizio Case live *right now* Message-ID: <87zf8pwyli.fsf@ebb.org> SFC Sustainers, There's a big hearing today in Vizio case regarding their violations of GPL and LGPL. You can watch live *right now* if you'd like to watch the hearing. The hearing is regarding Vizio's requested summary adjudication: https://sfconservancy.org/copyleft-compliance/vizio.html#vizio-msa Vizio is arguing users have no right to install their own software onto their devices. This morning,the judge tentatively DENIED their motion: https://www.occourts.org/sites/default/files/oc/default/tentative-rulings/slealrulings.pdf The hearing on that tentative ruling starts right now. You can watch¹ it at: https://occourtsapp.occourts.org/aci/checkin-results?dept=C33 ¹ This requires proprietary software, but Zoom for Government terms are less onerous than standard terms. Please also be sure to renew your sustainership before the end of 2025: https://sfconservancy.org/sustainer -- Bradley M. Kühn - he/them - Policy Fellow & Hacker-in-Residence at Software Freedom Conservancy From info at sfconservancy.org Wed Nov 26 17:49:33 2025 From: info at sfconservancy.org (Software Freedom Conservancy) Date: Wed, 26 Nov 2025 09:49:33 -0800 Subject: 2025 Fundraiser launched with largest match yet! Message-ID: 2025 Fundraiser launched with largest match yet! Help us raise $211,927 for software freedom URL: https://sfconservancy.org/news/2025/nov/26/2025-fundraiser-launched-with-largest-match-yet/ Social media: https://social.sfconservancy.org/notice/B0e1pyWFMIzYUOhhaq Today we are launching our annual fundraiser, and thanks to our generous matchers we are aiming to raise $211,927. That means by donating, renewing or joining our Sustainer program [0], our matchers will double your donation! You can also help spread the word about our fundraiser by word of mouth or on the Fediverse [1]. We'd like to thank our matchers for generously supporting us, and are highlighting some of them this fundraising season. You'll hear from Allison Randal, Eric Schultz, Christine Lemmer-Webber and Kees Cook. about how they became interested in software freedom and why they support SFC. As an organization primarily funded from individuals like our matchers, we pride ourselves on representing and working for the public. In a world full of venture capital and private equity, we are humbled in the way that you all power and sustain our work. As always, this year has been incredibly busy [2]. From pushing forward the Vizio lawsuit to bringing the OpenWrt to market to running the third annual FOSSY conference [3], to welcoming new member projects [4], we're thrilled to spread the word about software freedom all over the globe. We're so thankful for our sustainers [5] who enable us to do such great work. This winter, as there will be many updates on the Vizio lawsuit [6], we'll be hosting some live Q&A's with Executive Directory Karen Sandler, Policy Fellow Bradley M. Kuhn, and Director of Compliance Denver Gingerich. Stay tuned for those dates! Be sure to become a sustainer before January 15, 2026, so our matchers double your donation!! https://sfconservancy.org/sustainer/ --- [0] https://sfconservancy.org/sustainer/ [1] https://social.sfconservancy.org/conservancy [2] https://sfconservancy.org/sustainer/#YearInReview [3] https://fossy.us/ [4] https://sfconservancy.org/news/2025/mar/17/liblouis-joins-software-freedom-conservancy/ [5] https://sfconservancy.org/sustainer/ [6] https://sfconservancy.org/copyleft-compliance/vizio.html From info at sfconservancy.org Thu Dec 4 17:51:00 2025 From: info at sfconservancy.org (Software Freedom Conservancy) Date: Thu, 4 Dec 2025 11:51:00 -0600 Subject: Judge Issues Tentative Ruling in Favor of SFC Message-ID: Judge Issues Tentative Ruling in Favor of SFC Hearing today at 10am PST will consider whether Vizio has a duty to provide SFC with Source Code URL: https://sfconservancy.org/news/2025/dec/04/tentative-vizio-ruling-in-favor-of-sfc/ Social media: https://social.sfconservancy.org/notice/B0ucF80Nvr0w1pS8Xo https://social.sfconservancy.org/notice/B0ucLsKibBeBRwBHGq Today, in the Superior Court of California in Orange County, Judge Sandy N. Leal will consider Software Freedom Conservancy's motion for summary adjudication [0] in the Vizio case. The tentative ruling, issued this morning [1], rules in favor of SFC that Vizio has a duty to provide SFC with the complete and corresponding copylefted source code to the TV it purchased. Tentative rulings are not final; they are issued by the court to indicate how the judge is leaning on the issue, so that oral arguments at the hearing are most effective. The hearing on this issue will take place today, at 10am Pacific time. Information on how to attend is below. The tentative ruling grants SFC's motion on the issue that a direct contract was made between SFC and Vizio when SFC's systems administrator, Paul Visscher, requested the source code to a TV that SFC has purchased. This contract obligated Vizio to provide SFC the complete and corresponding source code. Other alternative grounds for this duty arising were also raised by SFC in its filing seeking to recognize SFC as a third-party beneficiary. These were tentatively rejected by the court, primarily on procedural grounds. Today lawyers for Vizio and SFC will argue the motion before the judge. Spectators can attend in person at 700 W Civic Center Dr, Santa Ana, CA 92701 or virtually via "Zoom for Government", which is accessible by browser [2]. Zoom for Government has proprietary terms, but those terms are generally less-onerous than standard Zoom. Also note that virtual attendees are generally required by Judge Leal to turn on their cameras initially to identify themselves to attend. The hearing will start at 10:00 am Pacific time but there are likely other cases that will be heard before SFC's. In the tentative ruling, SFC's case is listed as number 11. [0] https://sfconservancy.org/news/2025/jul/10/sfc-updates-motion-for-summary-adjudication-vizio/ [1] https://www.occourts.org/sites/default/files/oc/default/tentative-rulings/slealrulings.pdf [2] https://occourtsapp.occourts.org/aci/checkin-results?dept=C33 From info at sfconservancy.org Wed Dec 17 19:52:30 2025 From: info at sfconservancy.org (Software Freedom Conservancy) Date: Wed, 17 Dec 2025 14:52:30 -0500 Subject: Q&A with SFC staff tomorrow - learn more about Vizio! Message-ID: People are talking about the Vizio suit! Q&A with SFC staff tomorrow URL: https://sfconservancy.org/news/2025/dec/17/people-are-talking-about-the-vizio-suit/ Social media: https://social.sfconservancy.org/notice/B1LjWQt82aNLojndRI After the positive tentative ruling [0] in our case against Vizio, we gathered in Orange County with our lawyers for what is likely the last hearing of 2025. Going into the hearing, the judge was leaning toward concluding that a request for source code — pursuant to an offer under the GPLv2 or LGPLv2.1 — constitutes a contract obligating the vendor to provide that code to the purchaser. The hearing yielded excellent press coverage, including from Tom Claburn of The Register [1] and by Christine Hall in FOSS Force [2]. As always, you can find more about the case on our Copyleft Compliance page [3]. The trial is coming right up on January 12. We look forward to arguing that we (and all end users of copyleft software) are third party beneficiaries under the GPL and have contractual rights to complete and corresponding source code. We are excited to host some Q&As about the case and our work generally. Join us Thursday (tomorrow!) and Friday December 18th and 19th on BigBlueButton [4]: $ date -d '2025-12-18 23:00:00 +0000' $ date -d '2025-12-19 15:00:00 +0000' If you love this work and want more of it, now is your chance to become a Sustainer [5]. Until January 15th, any donation [6] you make will be doubled during our fundraiser! Thank you so much for supporting us and helping power the work we love to do. [0] https://sfconservancy.org/news/2025/dec/04/tentative-vizio-ruling-in-favor-of-sfc/ [1] https://www.theregister.com/2025/12/05/vizio_gpl_source_code_ruling/ [2] https://fossforce.com/2025/12/judge-signals-win-for-software-freedom-conservancy-in-vizio-gpl-case/ [3] https://sfconservancy.org/copyleft-compliance/vizio.html [4] https://bbb-new.sfconservancy.org/rooms/sfc-donor-ama [5] https://sfconservancy.org/sustainer/ [6] https://sfconservancy.org/donate From info at sfconservancy.org Mon Dec 29 16:37:58 2025 From: info at sfconservancy.org (Software Freedom Conservancy) Date: Mon, 29 Dec 2025 11:37:58 -0500 Subject: U-Boot has joined Software Freedom Conservancy Message-ID: U-Boot has joined Software Freedom Conservancy URL: https://sfconservancy.org/news/2025/dec/29/u-boot-has-joined-sfc/ Social media: https://social.sfconservancy.org/notice/B1kJZvG59Fg6JqyHHU We're so happy to announce that Das U-Boot [0], the Universal Bootloader, will be joining SFC! U-Boot is the most popular generic-purpose bootloader and is critical to ensuring that devices remain as open and free as possible. U-Boot has been essential for embedded linux products and is the de facto standard across various processor architectures. At over 26 years old, U-Boot is a prime example of free software evolving with the times. Various version control systems, testing systems, and build systems have changed and modernized over the years. With a community of various hobbyists and corporate developers, the dedicated team has produced incredibly high quality releases for years. Tom Rini, a member of the new Project Leadership Committee and longtime leader in the U-Boot community commented "I am personally very proud of this moment. As a project, many of our biggest challenges stem from organizations wanting to help us, but needing an organization that represents U-Boot to work with. SFC's mission aligns very well with our project goals and helps us ensure a long and successful future for the project." "U-Boot had always been a very critical piece of software for all projects I worked on, and as a contributor and subsystem maintainer I'm happy to join the Project Leadership Committee and help tackle the challenges of joining SFC to ensure a successful future for the project" Says Neil Armstrong, another member of the PLC and Senior Software Engineer, Linaro Limited "U-Boot has been Foundational Bootloader Strategy for Texas Instruments Embedded Processors for decades . We recognize the critical importance of infrastructure that enables community and strongly support U-Boot to move under the umbrella of Software Freedom Conservancy." Says Syed Mohammed Khasim, Director Open Source Software, Texas Instruments Inc (a sponsor of the project) SFC has a fundraising match challenge going on right now, so by donating or becoming a sustaining member [1], your money will count twice! Your contributions are what enable us to support this wide range of initiatives to preserve and grow software freedom for all. [0] https://github.com/u-boot/u-boot/ [1] https://sfconservancy.org/sustainer/