The Free Software Foundation
(FSF) has filed a software copyright infringement lawsuit
against Cisco.
The FSF's
complaint alleges that in the course of distributing products
under the Linksys networking kit brand, Cisco has violated the
licenses of many programs on which the FSF holds copyright,
including GCC, binutils, and the GNU C Library.
In doing so, Cisco denied its users their right to share and
modify the software, claims the FSF.
Most of these programs are licensed under the GNU General Public
License (GPL), and the rest are under the GNU Lesser General Public
License (LGPL).
Both these licenses encourage everyone, including companies like
Cisco, to modify the software as they see fit and then share it
with others, under certain conditions.
One of those conditions says that anyone who redistributes the
software must also provide their recipients with the source code to
that program.
"The FSF has documented many instances where Cisco has
distributed licensed software but failed to provide its customers
with the corresponding source code," said the organisation.
"Our licences are designed to ensure that everyone who uses the
software can change it," said Richard Stallman, president and
founder of the FSF.
"To exercise that right, people need the source code, and that
is why our licences require distributors to provide it. We are
enforcing our licences to protect the rights that everyone should
have with all software: to use it, share it, and modify it as they
see fit," said Stallman.
Cisco said it was "substantially in compliance", and the company
is working towards a resolution to the matter.