FSF Settles Suit Against Cisco
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) and Cisco Systems, Inc. are pleased to announce
that they have reached a joint agreement.
(FSF Compliance Engineer Brett Smith has written more about what we can learn from
this settlement [ http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/2009-05-settlement ].)
BOSTON, Massachusetts, USA -- Wednesday, May 20, 2009 -- The Free Software Foundation
(FSF) and Cisco Systems, Inc. are pleased to announce that they have reached a joint
agreement.
Under the agreement, the FSF has agreed to dismiss its lawsuit against Cisco.
Cisco has agreed to appoint a Free Software Director for Linksys, a subsidiary of
Cisco, to supervise Linksys' compliance with the requirements of free software licenses
such as the GPL (the GNU General Public License). The Free Software Director will
report periodically to the FSF regarding Linksys' compliance efforts. Cisco has
further agreed to take certain steps to notify previous recipients of Linksys products
containing FSF programs of their rights under the GPL and other applicable licenses,
to publish a licensing notice on the Linksys website, and to provide additional
notices in a separate publication. In addition, Cisco will continue to make the
complete and corresponding source code for versions of FSF programs used with current
Linksys products freely available on its website. Cisco will also make a monetary
contribution to the FSF.
The parties recognize Cisco's ongoing obligations under the GPL and other free software
licenses. The FSF will continue to independently monitor Linksys' compliance with
these licenses, and work with Linksys to resolve any new issues that may arise.
"We are glad that Cisco has affirmed its commitment to the free software community
by implementing additional measures within its compliance program and dedicating
appropriate resources to them, further reassuring the users' freedoms under the
GPL," said Peter Brown, Executive Director of the FSF. "Our agreement results in
making all of the relevant source code available in the fastest way possible."
About the FSF
The Free Software Foundation, founded in 1985, is dedicated to promoting computer
users' right to use, study, copy, modify, and redistribute computer programs. The
FSF promotes the development and use of free (as in freedom) software -- particularly
the GNU operating system and its GNU/Linux variants -- and free documentation for
free software. The FSF also helps to spread awareness of the ethical and political
issues of freedom in the use of software, and its Web sites, located at fsf.org
and gnu.org, are an important source of information about GNU/Linux. Donations to
support the FSF's work can be made at http://donate.fsf.org. Its headquarters are
in Boston, MA, USA.
Media Contacts
Brett Smith
Licensing Compliance Engineer
Free Software Foundation
+1 (617) 542 5942 x18
brett@fsf.org