The Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC) is an organization that provides pro bono legal representation and related services to not-for-profit developers of free software/open source software. It was launched in February 2005 with Eben Moglen as chairman. Initial funding of US$4 million was pledged by Open Source Development Labs.
A news article stated:
GPL version 3 SFLC represented and advised the Free Software Foundation, one of its principal clients, throughout the process of drafting and public discussion of version 3 of the GNU General Public License (GPLv3) during 2005–2007. Along with FSF president Richard M. Stallman, SFLC director Eben Moglen and then-SFLC counsel Richard Fontana were principal authors of GPLv3, LGPLv3, and the GNU Affero General Public License.SFLC Provides Ongoing GPLv3 Legal Support to FSF"And Now … Life After GPLv3" (Freedom Now)Richard Fontana
BusyBox litigation During 2007 and 2008, SFLC filed a series of copyright infringement lawsuits against various defendants, on behalf of Erik Andersen and Rob Landley, the principal developers of BusyBox. These lawsuits claimed violations of version 2 of the GNU General Public License (GPLv2).
On September 20, 2007, SFLC filed a lawsuit against Monsoon Multimedia, Inc.SFLC notice on the lawsuit filed against Monsoon Multimedia, Inc. alleging that Monsoon had violated GPLv2 by including BusyBox code in their Monsoon Multimedia HAVA line of productsLinuxWatch: without releasing BusyBox source code. This is believed to be the first U.S. court case in which the complaint concerned a GPL violation.LinuxWatch: First U.S. GPL lawsuit filed On October 30, 2007, an SFLC press release announced that the lawsuit had been settled with Monsoon agreeing to comply with the GPL and pay a sum of money to the plaintiffs.BusyBox Developers and Monsoon Multimedia Agree to Dismiss GPL Lawsuit
On November 20, 2007, SFLC filed a lawsuit against Xterasys Corporation and High-Gain Antennas, LLC.Second Round of GPL Infringement Lawsuits Filed on Behalf of BusyBox Developers On December 17, 2007, SFLC announced a settlement with Xterasys; the company agreed to stop product shipments until it published complete source code for the GPL code and to pay an undisclosed sum to the plaintiffs.BusyBox Developers and Xterasys Corporation Agree to Settle GPL Lawsuit The suit against High-Gain Antennas was settled on March 6, 2008, with the company agreeing to comply with GPL and paying an undisclosed sum to the plaintiffs.BusyBox Developers and High-Gain Antennas Agree to Dismiss GPL Lawsuit
On December 7, 2007 SFLC filed a lawsuit against Verizon Communications, Inc.BusyBox Developers File GPL Infringement Lawsuit Against Verizon Communications alleging that Verizon had violated GPLv2 by distributing BusyBox in the Actiontec MI424WR MoCA wireless routers bundled with the FiOS fiber optic bandwidth service, without providing corresponding source code. A settlement announced on March 17, 2008, included an agreement to comply with the GPL and an undisclosed sum paid to the plaintiffs.BusyBox Developers Agree To End GPL Lawsuit Against Verizon
On June 10, 2008, SFLC announced the filing of lawsuits against Bell Microproducts, Inc. and Super Micro Computer, Inc.SFLC Files Another Round of GPL Violation Lawsuits on Behalf of BusyBox Developers
On December 14, 2009, SFLC announced the filing of a lawsuit on behalf of its clients, Software Freedom Conservancy and Erik Andersen, against 14 companies, including Best Buy, Samsung, and Westinghouse alleging these companies had violated GPLv2 by distributing BusyBox in some of their products without releasing BusyBox source code.GPLv2 copyright suit targets 14 firms on linuxgizmos.com by Eric Brown (Dec 14, 2009)Best Buy, Samsung, Westinghouse, And Eleven Other Brands Named In SFLC Lawsuit on softwarefreedom.org For instance, Samsung released its LN52A650 TV firmware in 2010,Visual Display - Open Source on samsung.com "Please download the links below We use GPLv2 and LGPLv2.1, not GPLv3 and LGPLv3. Open Source License Notice License Agreement LN52A750.zip" (archived 2010)manualThe Software Freedom Conservancy, Inc. & Mr. Erik Andersen vs BestBuy, Samung, Westinghouse, JVC, Western Digital, Bosch, Phoebe Micro, Humax, ... (New York, 2009) which was used later as the base for the community SamyGO project.
By 21 September 2013, all of the defendant companies had agreed on settlement terms with the plaintiffs, except for Westinghouse, against whom default judgment was entered.
Cisco lawsuit
On December 11, 2008, SFLC announced the filing of a lawsuit on behalf of its client, the Free Software Foundation, against Cisco Systems, Inc.SFLC Files Lawsuit against Cisco on Behalf of the FSF This lawsuit was the first suit ever initiated by the Free Software Foundation,.Free Software Foundation Files Suit Against Cisco For GPL Violations On May 20, 2009, the parties announced a settlement.
Staff , SFLC's staff included: Eben Moglen, President and Executive Director Mishi Choudhary, Legal Director Tanisha Madrid-Batista, Chief Operating Officer Daniel Gnoutcheff, Systems Administrator
Directors , SFLC's directors were: Eben Moglen Diane M. Peters Daniel Weitzner
Former staff Richard Fontana, Counsel Jim Garrison, Public Relations Coordinator Bradley M. Kuhn, Policy Analyst and Technology Director Matt Norwood, Counsel Jonathan D. Bean, Counsel Daniel J. Byrnes, Counsel Albert Cahn, Counsel Daniel B. Ravicher, Legal Director Karen M. Sandler, General Counsel James Vasile, Counsel Rachel A. Wiener, Office Manager Justin C. Colannino, Counsel Aaron Williamson, Counsel Marc Jones, Counsel
Clients
Press Release: SFLC to represent the Wine project (see also Wine) X.Org Foundation Hires Software Freedom Law Center SFLC to represent Plone and the Plone Foundation (see Plone)
References
External links
Donate SFLC New York Times article about SFLC launch
Moglen plans "general counsel's office for the entire movement" Feb 2005, Newsforge ZDNet interview with Eben Moglen where SFLC is discussed