Re: [libreplanet-discuss] suggestion/help. GPL enforcement.

[Daniel Pocock]

On 05/06/16 17:39, Adonay Felipe Nogueira wrote:
> Free software activists shouldn't sue people right from the start,
> they should instead enforce it through collaboration, first by
> private communication with the violator, then after series of
> negligencies done by the violators, the original project can
> express their disappointment publicly, then wait for the violators
> to apologize and accept the suggestions or collaborations done, and
> only after series of negligencies, it must be thought on suing the
> violator. This might take years, but the most immediate advice you
> can deliver to a possible violator is to cease redistribution
> temporarily until the issue is resolved or proven to be false by
> all the parties involved.
> 

The strategy is correct, but giving them years to comply is not.

The timescale for enforcing GPL compliance should probably be
comparable to the timescale for enforcing a claim for unpaid wages or
any other civil debt, after all, the violator is effectively using
somebodies work without paying for a license that permits them to use
it in closed-source software.