On funding and compliance [LWN.net]

On funding and compliance

Posted Nov 2, 2018 16:46 UTC (Fri) by jebba (guest, #4439)
In reply to: On funding and compliance by bkuhn
Parent article: Protecting the open-source license commons

bkuhn thanks for all your work for copyleft. :)

Is there much consideration of using other ways to enforce compliance other than via civil copyright claims? Court cases are expensive. Piracy claims can be filed at the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center. People found guilty there can go to jail, unlike in civil cases. That way you can show it isn't for the money, if you like. You don't even have to have "standing" there like you would in court.

https://www.iprcenter.gov/

You could also file complaints about importation of pirated software with US Customs and Border protection (e.g. companies importing switches made in China that are using Debian, but not sharing source).

https://www.cbp.gov/trade/priority-issues/ipr
https://eallegations.cbp.gov/Home/Index2

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On funding and compliance

Posted Nov 3, 2018 0:59 UTC (Sat) by pabs (subscriber, #43278) [Link] (1 responses)

I think that sending people to jail would not be an appropriate outcome at all.

Matthew Garret has done the customs-based enforcement thing before, I cannot find any info about how successful that was though.

https://lwn.net/Articles/404450/

On funding and compliance

Posted Nov 3, 2018 2:29 UTC (Sat) by jebba (guest, #4439) [Link]

If the VMWare execs got even a whiff of jail, they would all change their processes immediately... Plenty of people go to jail for pirating Adobe and Microsoft products. So why not for pirating Debian? This guy went to jail for over a year just recycling computers with Windows:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/true-crime/wp/2018/04...

On funding and compliance

Posted Nov 3, 2018 14:13 UTC (Sat) by bkuhn (subscriber, #58642) [Link] (1 responses)

Conservancy has done deep dives on many of these programs. They are, in some cases, even more resource intensive than litigation because the timelines are compressed which actually works against small actors like us. The initial filing fees and work to do the initial filing isn't the issue; all of these systems allow appeals and you have to be prepared to fight until the end. As I said, if anyone wants to talk seriously about new ways of doing enforcement, CopyleftConf would be a great place to do it. principles-discuss would be a great mailing list to discuss the same if you can't make the conference.

On funding and compliance

Posted Nov 3, 2018 17:22 UTC (Sat) by jebba (guest, #4439) [Link]

If it is a criminal case (e.g. IPR center), then it is up to the prosecutor and you may be called as a witness. But it isn't up to you do fight the case, like it is in a civil case. Also, you'd only have to win one of these to send a huge message. Get one executive thrown in jail for piracy of GPL software and I assure you they will all have a quick change of attitude.

On funding and compliance

Posted Nov 15, 2018 16:27 UTC (Thu) by Wol (subscriber, #4433) [Link]

> Is there much consideration of using other ways to enforce compliance other than via civil copyright claims? Court cases are expensive.

In Europe - Britain at least - copyright violation for commercial gain is a criminal offence. Although I don't know of any prosecutions for it ...

Cheers,
Wol