Red Hat, Inc. (NYSE:RHT) today announced that Amazon, Arm, Canonical, GitLab, Intel Corporation, Liferay, Linaro, MariaDB, NEC, Pivotal, Royal Philips, SAS, Toyota and VMware have joined the roster of community and industry leaders in rejecting harsh tactics in the enforcement of open source licenses by adopting the GPL Cooperation Commitment. These commitments reflect the belief that responsible compliance in open source licensing is important and that license enforcement in the open source ecosystem operates by different norms.
These 14 companies join other companies who previously made the commitment: Red Hat, Facebook, Google, and IBM made the initial commitment in November 2017 and were joined in March 2018 by CA Technologies, Cisco, HPE, Microsoft, SAP, and SUSE.
Today’s announcement demonstrates the expanded breadth and depth of support for the GPL Cooperation Commitment. Companies adopting the commitment now span geographic regions, include eight Fortune 100 companies, and represent a wide range of industries from enterprise software and hardware to consumer electronics, chip manufacturing to cloud computing, and social networking to automotive. The companies making the commitment represent more than 39 percent of corporate contributions to the Linux kernel, including six of the top 10 corporate contributors.1
The companies, projects and developers participating in the GPL Cooperation Commitment have extended these rights because they believed it was right for the community and the open source ecosystems in which they participate and encourage other companies and developers to join them. Red Hat applauds them on their forward-thinking actions.
The following companies have agreed to provide curative rights to licensees of GPLv2 and LGPLv2 and 2.1-code that they license:
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GPL Cooperation Commitment
These companies have committed to provide opportunities for their licensees to correct errors in compliance with their GPLv2 and LGPLv2 and 2.1-licensed software before taking action to terminate the licenses through the GPL Cooperation Commitment. Version 2 of the General Public License (GPLv2) and versions 2 and 2.1 of the Lesser General Public License (LGPLv2) do not contain express “cure” periods to fix problems before these licenses are terminated. This issue was addressed in version 3 of the GPL (GPLv3) which added an opportunity to correct mistakes in license compliance. In order to address the potential imbalance for GPLv2 and LGPLv2-licensed code, these companies have adopted the cure provisions from GPLv3 for their existing and future GPLv2 and LGPLv2-licensed code. This means that users of GPLv2 and LGPLv2-licensed code will have the same opportunity to fix errors as users of GPLv3-licensed code.
Specifically, the commitment language adopted by each company is:
Before filing or continuing to prosecute any legal proceeding or claim (other than a Defensive Action) arising from termination of a Covered License, [Company] commits to extend to the person or entity (“you”) accused of violating the Covered License the following provisions regarding cure and reinstatement, taken from GPL version 3. As used here, the term ‘this License’ refers to the specific Covered License being enforced.
However, if you cease all violation of this License, then your license from a particular copyright holder is reinstated (a) provisionally, unless and until the copyright holder explicitly and finally terminates your license, and (b) permanently, if the copyright holder fails to notify you of the violation by some reasonable means prior to 60 days after the cessation.
Moreover, your license from a particular copyright holder is reinstated permanently if the copyright holder notifies you of the violation by some reasonable means, this is the first time you have received notice of violation of this License (for any work) from that copyright holder, and you cure the violation prior to 30 days after your receipt of the notice.
[Company] intends this Commitment to be irrevocable, and binding and enforceable against [Company] and assignees of or successors to [Company]’s copyrights.
[Company] may modify this Commitment by publishing a new edition on this page or a successor location.
Definitions
‘Covered
License’ means the GNU General Public License, version 2 (GPLv2), the
GNU Lesser General Public License, version 2.1 (LGPLv2.1), or the GNU
Library General Public License, version 2 (LGPLv2), all as published by
the Free Software Foundation.
‘Defensive Action’ means a legal proceeding or claim that [Company] brings against you in response to a prior proceeding or claim initiated by you or your affiliate.
‘[Company]’ means [Company] and its subsidiaries.
Supporting Quotes
Michael Cunningham, executive vice president and general counsel, Red
Hat
“We are pleased to honor open source community traditions
by encouraging this collaborative approach to license commitments among
our fellow participants in the open source ecosystem. We are also
grateful to the development community for having provided the
intellectual underpinnings of the approach to us and the other
companies. Many thanks to the Free Software Foundation, Linux
Foundation, Linux Foundation Technical Advisory Board, Software Freedom
Conservancy, Software Freedom Law Center and all the others that helped
lead the way.”
Keith Bergelt, CEO, Open Invention Network
“Consistent with
OIN’s mission to provide freedom of action in Linux, we believe it is
important to reinforce the principle that IP enforcement should be
conducted in a manner that is rational and in consonance with the
collaborative process that occurs in open source software. We encourage
all participants in the OIN patent non-aggression community to also make
the GPL Cooperation Commitment.”
Adrian Cockroft, vice president, Cloud Architecture Strategy, Amazon
“Amazon
and AWS strongly support open source as a way to speed the rate of
innovation for our customers, developers, community, and partners. We
support changes to open source licensing that furthers the goal of
innovation and experimentation on behalf of open source users and
contributors.”
Mark Hambleton, vice president of open source software, Arm
“A
healthy, thriving open source software community is an essential enabler
for innovation across most technology market segments. We have already
supported the Linux kernel enforcement statement and we now make a
similar cure commitment for GPL and LGPL code. We encourage others to
support this movement as we strive for a consistent, fair approach to
open source license interpretation and enforcement.”
Sid Sijbrandij, co-founder and CEO, GitLab
"At GitLab we’re
committed to a 30-day cure period for GPLv2 because we want a world
where everyone can contribute without worrying they won't have a chance
to remedy any mistakes they made.”
Jorge Ferrer, vice president of Engineering, Liferay
“Open
source software and communities have always been fundamental to
Liferay’s mission of building a vibrant business, making technology
useful and investing in communities. We're proud be part of the pledge
to apply GPLv3’s non-compliance cure provisions to GPLv2, LGPLv2 and
LGPLv2.1 because we believe it will provide more fairness and
predictability for developers using open source software."
David Rusling, chief technology officer, Linaro
“It is in
Linaro’s and the Arm ecosystem’s interests that the open source projects
that we are contributing to and testing remain fair, open and
collaborative. Linaro fully endorses and supports Red Hat’s cooperation
commitment initiative.”
Kaj Arnö, chief evangelist, MariaDB Corporation
“Open source
is the way of the future and we support removing barriers for users to
innovate with open source. That’s why we are proud to adopt this
common-sense remedy period for fixing license violations.”
Keiichi Seki, senior manager, Open Source Program Office, NEC
Corporation
“As a member of open source development communities
and also a member of open source foundations, NEC has been making
considerable efforts to help expand its ecosystem for more than 15
years. NEC believes this Cooperation Commitment will deepen the
collaboration between industry and community. That will cause
acceleration of further innovation in the open source ecosystem.”
Ian Andrews, vice president of products, Pivotal
“Pivotal is
happy to join in the diverse group of companies and technology leaders
incorporating the 30-day cure period included in GPLv3 into GPLv2 and
LGPLv2. We strongly believe that this approach to enforcement will
further collaboration and participation in open source development,
fairness, and the adoption of open source software that underlies
everything that we do.”
Jako Eleveld, head of IP Licensing, Royal Philips
“Royal
Philips values and supports the extension of a cure period for users of
GPLv2 licensed software. Enabling users to correct errors and avoid
license termination provides greater legal certainty for implementers.
For this reason, and as a proud founder of Open Invention Network, Royal
Philips is joining the list of companies making the cure commitment.”
John Boswell, chief legal counsel, SAS
“Open source has
become an important part of advancing new technologies that impact how
we work and live. But, as with any software, there are risks when it
comes to license infringement issues, and it’s important that all
parties involved are protected so that they can continue to collaborate
and develop new source code. This is why we are supporting Red Hat’s
efforts to promote greater predictability in open source license
enforcement. Doing so gives the open source community the security
needed to be innovative when designing new software.”
Dirk Hohndel, chief open source officer, VMware
"We believe
that open source is an essential building block of today’s technology
solutions. The GPL is one of the most common open source licenses used
and having a predictable and collaborative approach to enforcing that
license will help all of us to encourage continued growth in this space.
The GPL Cooperation Commitment is a key step to further foster open
source software adoption."
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About Red Hat, Inc.
Red Hat is the world's leading provider of open source software solutions, using a community-powered approach to provide reliable and high-performing cloud, Linux, middleware, storage and virtualization technologies. Red Hat also offers award-winning support, training, and consulting services. As a connective hub in a global network of enterprises, partners, and open source communities, Red Hat helps create relevant, innovative technologies that liberate resources for growth and prepare customers for the future of IT. Learn more at http://www.redhat.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements contained in this press release may constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements provide current expectations of future events based on certain assumptions and include any statement that does not directly relate to any historical or current fact. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including: risks related to the ability of the Company to compete effectively; the ability to deliver and stimulate demand for new products and technological innovations on a timely basis; delays or reductions in information technology spending; the integration of acquisitions and the ability to market successfully acquired technologies and products; risks related to errors or defects in our offerings and third-party products upon which our offerings depend; risks related to the security of our offerings and other data security vulnerabilities; fluctuations in exchange rates; the effects of industry consolidation; uncertainty and adverse results in litigation and related settlements; the inability to adequately protect Company intellectual property and the potential for infringement or breach of license claims of or relating to third party intellectual property; changes in and a dependence on key personnel; the ability to meet financial and operational challenges encountered in our international operations; and ineffective management of, and control over, the Company’s growth and international operations, as well as other factors contained in our most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q (copies of which may be accessed through the Securities and Exchange Commission’s website at http://www.sec.gov), including those found therein under the captions “Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations”. In addition to these factors, actual future performance, outcomes, and results may differ materially because of more general factors including (without limitation) general industry and market conditions and growth rates, economic and political conditions, governmental and public policy changes and the impact of natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods. The forward-looking statements included in this press release represent the Company’s views as of the date of this press release and these views could change. However, while the Company may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, the Company specifically disclaims any obligation to do so. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing the Company’s views as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release.
Red Hat is a trademark or registered trademark of Red Hat, Inc. or its subsidiaries in the U.S. and other countries. Linux® is the registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in the U.S. and other countries. VMware is a registered trademark or trademark of VMware, Inc. in the U.S. and other countries.
1 Based on data from the 2017 LINUX KERNEL DEVELOPMENT REPORT published in October 2017.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180716005186/en/
Contacts:
Stephanie Wonderlick, 571-421-8169
swonderl@redhat.com