Re: GPL Violation?

David Woodhouse
2006-08-18T08:28:50Z

On Fri, 2006-08-18 at 00:45 +0100, Ian Stirling wrote:
> With the appropriate disclaimers on the box, it cannot function
> incorrectly, as you will know that the thumb-print reader won't
> work if you upgrade the kernel, and if you intend to do so,
> you don't buy.

As far as I can tell, the GPL does not contain the text "if you are
shipping a commercial product don't really want to comply with this
licence, you can just put a disclaimer on the box of your product and
that's OK instead".

> I've got a number of wireless routers that I don't have working
> drivers for the wifi cards, happily wired into my network doing
> things that they were not intended for, but they are functioning
> 'correctly' as I see it.

Both are fairly clear examples of GPL violations. The manufacturer has
_not_ granted you the freedom to copy, modify and distribute all the
Linux-based code in the device, as is required by the GPL.

--
dwmw2