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1. Comment - New platform protects open source customers from infringement

   (Mar 5, 2008 - 3:54 PM)

   OpenLogic's characterization of the Free Software Foundation's compliance process is misinformed at best. While it is true that we often require a company to appoint a compliance offer, that title is usually given to someone already working with the company, such as the CTO or an in-house attorney. This approach works better for everyone: we get to work with someone who's already familiar with the company's products and procedures, and the company can easily establish its own policies to deal with new issues without training anyone new.
   
   So far, we have never requested a monetary settlement from anyone violating the license on our software. Often we ask for the companies we work with to reimburse the time we spend on their case. When a company works to correct their mistakes quickly and cooperates with us, those costs can be as small as a few hundred dollars.
   
   All of the work we do in this area is aimed at one single goal: compliance with the licenses. We have zero interest in making a profit from this, or punishing companies for their oversights. We only want to see the mistakes fixed, and steps taken to prevent those mistakes from being repeated. With this strategy, we can ensure that every user of our software has the freedom to share and change it -- the freedoms every software user ought to have.
   
   -- Brett Smith, FSF Licensing Compliance Engineer