The Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC) announced that it has filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against 14 consumer electronics companies.
According to the statement, the SFLC filed the suit on behalf of the Software Freedom Conservancy, the non-profit corporate home of the software application BusyBox and other Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) projects, and Erik Andersen, one of the program’s principal developers and copyright holders. Named as defendants in the suit are Best Buy, Samsung Electronics America, Westinghouse Digital Electronics, JVC Americas, Western Digital, Robert Bosch, Phoebe Micro, Humax USA, Comtrend, Dobbs-Standford, Versa Technology, ZyXEL Communications, Astak and GCI Technologies.
The complaint alleges that each of the defendants sells products containing BusyBox (a software application that provides various UNIX tools for use in devices with limited resources) in violation of the terms of its license, the GNU General Public License version 2 (GPLv2). The SFLC is seeking an injunction to prevent each defendant from further exploiting BusyBox as well as have each relinquish all profits derived from its use and pay relevant damages and expenses.
Infringing products identified in the complaint:
Best Buy’s Insignia NS-WBRDVD Blu-ray Disc player
Samsung’s LN52A650 and LA26A450 LCD HDTV’s
Westinghouse’s TX-52F480S LCD HDTV
JVC’s LT-42P789 LCD HDTV and VN-C20U IP Network Camera
Western Digital’s WDBABF0000NBK WD TV HD Media Player
Bosch’s DVR4C Security System DVR
Phoebe Micro’s Airlink101 AR670W and AR690W wireless routers and Airlink101 AICAP650W IP Motion Wireless Camera
Humax’s iCord HD HDTV DVR
Comtrend’s CT-5621 and NexusLink 5631/ 5631E ADSL2+ bonded modems
Dobbs-Stanford’s Frame Jazz EyeZone B1080P-2 digital media player
Versa Tech’s PS-730 ITS Gateway and VX-BW2250 weatherproof dual radio outdoor wireless access point
ZyXEL’s P-663H-51 ADSL 2+ Bonded 4 Port Router
Astak’s CM-818DVR4V security camera system with DVR and CM-04DE and CM-04DEV security system DVR devices
GCI’s Cortex HDC-3000 digital music controller
For more information visit: www.softwarefreedom.org