[rt.gpl-violations.org #576] Update on Riverbed Steelhead appliance

[Matthew Seth Flaschen]

Well, let's assume he's correct that his company's product is an 
inseparable work protected by copyright; this clarifies that it is not 
"mere aggregation" of several works.  It clearly contains GPL content, 
because he admits to updating the Linux kernel component.  Thus, the 
entire work is a derivative work of the Linux kernel and possibly other 
GPL software.  His company must therefore license the entire work under 
the GPL and is currently in violation of copyright law.

Matthew Flaschen

Federico Di Gregorio wrote:
> First of all, sorry for the cross-post to both rt and legal but I don't
> know where I am supposed to send updates to this possible violation.
> 
> A Product Manager of Telena S.p.A., the company that distributes
> Riverbed products here in Italy finally answered my email and here is
> the interesting part of his email:
> 
>         2) Non ritengo possibile accedere ai sorgenti del software, in
>         quanto protetti da copyright. Tutti gli aggiornamenti anche a
>         livello di kernel Linux, vengono rilasciati all'interno delle
>         release RiOS fornite da Riverbed. Non è possibile scindere la
>         parte di sistema operativo dal software RiOS. Si tratta di un
>         prodotto "finito" e come da tale va considerato.
>         
> Translated to english by me:
> 
>         2) I don't think it is possible to have access to the sources of
>         the software because it is protected by copyright. All updates,
>         even Linux kernel ones, are released as RiOS updates by
>         Riverbed. It is not possible to separate the operating system
>         part from the RiOS software. It is a "complete" product and you
>         should think of it as such.
> 
> Well.. he admits that the Linux kernel and the RiOS are inseparable but
> they don't even recognize using Linux. Sources are definitely not
> distributed with the product. This seems a clear GPL violaion to me. 
> 
> Comments?
> 
> federico
>