Apple is violating the GPL with its Mac OS X EULA and lawsuit against Psystar
Erik Warner
erik_warner_tx at yahoo.com
Sat Aug 30 04:07:50 CEST 2008
Hi,
Apple filed a suit against computer maker Psystar for selling computers preloaded with legally-purchased copies of Mac OS X. Apple is basing the suit on Mac OS X's restrictive EULA, which attempts to prohibit installing Mac OS X on non-Apple hardware. The problem for Apple is that Mac OS X includes software licensed under the GPLv2 and LGPLv2, both of which expressly prohibit placing additional restrictions on software covered by the GPLv2 and LGPLv2. Apple's attempt to place a restrictive EULA on software they do *NOT* own copyright to, software whose licenses (GPLv2 and LGPLv2) expressly prohibit placing additional restrictions on downstream recipients, constitutes a massive violation of the GPLv2 and LGPLv2.
The preamble of the GPLv2 states that:
"if you distribute copies of such a program, whether gratis or for a fee, you must give the recipients all the rights that you have."
Section 6 of the GPLv2 states that:
"6. Each time you redistribute the Program (or any work based on the Program), the recipient automatically receives a license from the original licensor to copy, distribute or modify the Program subject to these terms and conditions. You may not impose any further restrictions on the recipients' exercise of the rights granted herein."
Similarly, the preamble of the LGPLv2 states that:
"if you distribute copies of the library, whether gratis or for a fee, you must give the recipients all the rights that we gave you."
Section 10 of the LGPLv2 states that:
"10. Each time you redistribute the Library (or any work based on the Library), the recipient automatically receives a license from the original licensor to copy, distribute, link with or modify the Library subject to these terms and conditions. You may not impose any further restrictions on the recipients' exercise of the rights granted herein."
Apple's EULA clearly imposes "further restrictions on the recipients' exercise of the rights granted" in the GPLv2 and LGPLv2, and as such is in direct contradiction with Section 6 and Section 10 of the respective licenses.
Even if we were to incorrectly assume that Apple owned 100% of the copyright to Mac OS X, the courts might still strike down the EULA as unenforceable under contract law or as violating antitrust law. However, these arguments are not what I'm talking about in this email. What I'm saying is that, regardless of the validity of the contract law and antitrust law arguments, Apple's Mac OS X EULA violates the GPLv2 and LGPLv2. By applying the restrictive EULA to software licensed under the GPLv2 and LGPLv2, Apple is infringing on the copyrights of the authors of the GPLv2- and LGPLv2-licensed software included in Mac OS X.
By forcing recipients of Mac OS X to agree to the EULA in order to use the installation CD, Apple deceived the recipients into thinking they don't have the rights to which the GPLv2 and LGPLv2 entitles them.
I urge all contributors to GPLv2- and LGPLv2-licensed software distributed by Mac OS X to sue Apple for copyright infringement and seek monetary damages for *every single copy of Mac OS X* that included both the restrictive EULA and GPLv2- or LGPLv2- licensed software. It would be even better if Psystar could team up with the copyright holders to bring about a defensive counter-suit against Apple.
There is nothing more despicable than Apple's hijacking of Free & Open Source software projects licensed under the GPLv2 or LGPLv2 and tying them to overpriced hardware through draconian EULAs. I'd love to see those thugs at Apple lose billions.
But in order make this happen, I ask that you help spread the word to developers of all the affected FOSS projects. Please send emails to the development mailing lists of the GPLv2- or LGPLv2- licensed projects informing them that Apple is infringing on their copyright by defying Section 6 and Section 10 of the respective licenses. There is a list FOSS projects that supposedly make up part of Mac OS X at http://www.opensource.apple.com/darwinsource/10.5.3/, but I wouldn't trust Apple to be comprehensive. The GPLv2- and LGPLv2-licensed projects are listed under the license "Other".
Thanks, and good luck standing up to the Apple thugs!
-Erik
Mac OS X 10.5.3 (Darwin 9.3)
Source Code Downloads
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Apple16X50Serial-19.2 APSL .tar.gz
Apple3Com3C90x-10 APSL .tar.gz
AppleADBButtons-300 APSL .tar.gz
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AppleADBMouse-212 APSL .tar.gz
AppleAPIC-10 APSL .tar.gz
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AppleDisplays-160.0.9 APSL .tar.gz
AppleFan-110.3.1 APSL .tar.gz
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AppleRAID-3.0.19 APSL .tar.gz
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AppleTalk-91 APSL .tar.gz
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Chess-105.0.14 Other .tar.gz
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DirectoryService-514.19 APSL .tar.gz
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IOGraphics-233.3 APSL .tar.gz
IOHIDFamily-258.1 APSL .tar.gz
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IOKitTools-76 APSL .tar.gz
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IOSCSIParallelFamily-151.1.1 APSL .tar.gz
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IOStorageFamily-89 APSL .tar.gz
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IOUSBMassStorageClass-201.0.2 APSL .tar.gz
JavaScriptCore-5525.17 Other .tar.gz
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Kerberos-75.10.3 Other .tar.gz
KerberosHelper-31.4 APSL .tar.gz
KeyLargoATA-111.3.1 APSL .tar.gz
Libc-498.1.1 APSL .tar.gz
Libcpp_kext-5 Other .tar.gz
Libinfo-278.0.3 APSL .tar.gz
Libm-292.4 APSL .tar.gz
Libnotify-35 APSL .tar.gz
Librpcsvc-15 APSL .tar.gz
Libstreams-25 APSL .tar.gz
Libsystem-111.1.1 APSL .tar.gz
Liby-15 Other .tar.gz
MySQL-43 Other .tar.gz
NFS-25 APSL .tar.gz
OpenAL-29 Other .tar.gz
OpenDirectory-39 APSL .tar.gz
OpenLDAP-108.1 Other .tar.gz
OpenSSH-95 Other .tar.gz
OpenSSL-46 Other .tar.gz
OpenSSL096-6.2 Other .tar.gz
PowerManagement-143 APSL .tar.gz
PyRSS2Gen-5 Other .tar.gz
RubyCocoa-57.2 Other .tar.gz
RubyGems-15.2 Other .tar.gz
RubyOnRails-25.2 Other .tar.gz
SCSIHeaderInstaller-100.0.2 APSL .tar.gz
SQLite-46 Other .tar.gz
Security-33532 APSL .tar.gz
SecurityTokend-32363 APSL .tar.gz
SecurityTool-32482 APSL .tar.gz
SmartCardServices-32672 APSL .tar.gz
SpamAssassin-137.1 Other .tar.gz
SquirrelMail-24 Other .tar.gz
SystemStubs-6 APSL .tar.gz
TargetConfig-3 APSL .tar.gz
TimeZoneData-10 Other .tar.gz
Tokend-32432 APSL .tar.gz
Twisted-5 Other .tar.gz
UserNotification-21 APSL .tar.gz
WebCore-5525.18.1 Other .tar.gz
X11apps-14 Other .tar.gz
X11fonts-5 Other .tar.gz
X11libs-17.2 Other .tar.gz
X11misc-6 Other .tar.gz
X11proto-15 Other .tar.gz
X11server-48.1 Other .tar.gz
adv_cmds-119 APSL .tar.gz
amavisd-110.2 Other .tar.gz
apache-731 Other .tar.gz
apache1-697 Other .tar.gz
apache_mod_bonjour-9 Other .tar.gz
apache_mod_fastcgi-3 Other .tar.gz
apache_mod_hfs_apple-7 APSL .tar.gz
apache_mod_perl-101 Other .tar.gz
apache_mod_perl1-16 Other .tar.gz
apache_mod_php-44 Other .tar.gz
apache_mod_php4-32 Other .tar.gz
apache_mod_ssl-690 Other .tar.gz
apr-12 Other .tar.gz
architecture-254 APSL .tar.gz
at_cmds-54 APSL .tar.gz
autoconf-14 Other .tar.gz
autofs-109.1 APSL .tar.gz
automake-7 Other .tar.gz
awk-11 Other .tar.gz
bash-76.2 Other .tar.gz
basic_cmds-48 Other .tar.gz
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bison-13 Other .tar.gz
bison1-1 Other .tar.gz
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bootp-170.1 APSL .tar.gz
bootstrap_cmds-60 APSL .tar.gz
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bsm-13 Other .tar.gz
bzip2-16 Other .tar.gz
cctools-667.3 APSL .tar.gz
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clamav-116.2 Other .tar.gz
configd-212.2 APSL .tar.gz
copyfile-42 APSL .tar.gz
cron-30 Other .tar.gz
crontabs-34 Other .tar.gz
cscope-13 Other .tar.gz
cups-136.9 Other .tar.gz
curl-42 Other .tar.gz
cvs-39 Other .tar.gz
cvs_wrapped-13 Other .tar.gz
cxxfilt-6 Other .tar.gz
developer_cmds-49 Other .tar.gz
diffstat-5 Other .tar.gz
diskdev_cmds-421.1.11 APSL .tar.gz
disklabel-2 APSL .tar.gz
distcc-881 Other .tar.gz
doc_cmds-47 Other .tar.gz
dtrace-48 Other .tar.gz
dyld-96.2 APSL .tar.gz
eap8021x-49.4 APSL .tar.gz
efax-28 Other .tar.gz
emacs-70.1 Other .tar.gz
enscript-11.1 Other .tar.gz
expat-6 Other .tar.gz
extenTools-17.3 APSL .tar.gz
fetchmail-28 Other .tar.gz
file-23 Other .tar.gz
file_cmds-185.2 APSL .tar.gz
files-530.1.3 APSL .tar.gz
flex-20.3 Other .tar.gz
freeradius-11 Other .tar.gz
gcc-5465 Other .tar.gz
gcc_42-5531 Other .tar.gz
gcc_os-1823 Other .tar.gz
gcc_select-66 APSL .tar.gz
gccfast-1626 Other .tar.gz
gdb-768 Other .tar.gz
gdbforcw-5 Other .tar.gz
glibtool-12 Other .tar.gz
gm4-12 Other .tar.gz
gnudiff-14 Other .tar.gz
gnumake-119 Other .tar.gz
gnuserv-7 Other .tar.gz
gnutar-441 Other .tar.gz
gnuzip-25 Other .tar.gz
gperf-4 Other .tar.gz
gpt-7 Other .tar.gz
graphviz-622 Other .tar.gz
grep-24 Other .tar.gz
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gutenprint-5 Other .tar.gz
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hfs-165 APSL .tar.gz
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ipsec-34 Other .tar.gz
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isoutil-34 APSL .tar.gz
jam-851 Other .tar.gz
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keymgr-18 Other .tar.gz
ksh-13 Other .tar.gz
launchd-258.12 APSL .tar.gz
ld64-77.1 APSL .tar.gz
less-20 Other .tar.gz
libedit-11 Other .tar.gz
libffi-10 Other .tar.gz
libfs-7 APSL .tar.gz
libgcc-8.1 Other .tar.gz
libiconv-24 Other .tar.gz
libmd-2 Other .tar.gz
libpcap-18 Other .tar.gz
libresolv-25 APSL .tar.gz
libsecurity_agent-32091.1 APSL .tar.gz
libsecurity_apple_csp-32567 APSL .tar.gz
libsecurity_apple_cspdl-32466 APSL .tar.gz
libsecurity_apple_file_dl-29159 APSL .tar.gz
libsecurity_apple_x509_cl-29856 APSL .tar.gz
libsecurity_apple_x509_tp-33583 APSL .tar.gz
libsecurity_asn1-29908 APSL .tar.gz
libsecurity_authorization-32564 APSL .tar.gz
libsecurity_cdsa_client-32432 APSL .tar.gz
libsecurity_cdsa_plugin-29159 APSL .tar.gz
libsecurity_cdsa_utilities-33506 APSL .tar.gz
libsecurity_cdsa_utils-32586 APSL .tar.gz
libsecurity_checkpw-29159 APSL .tar.gz
libsecurity_cms-32521 APSL .tar.gz
libsecurity_codesigning-33803 APSL .tar.gz
libsecurity_cssm-32993 APSL .tar.gz
libsecurity_dotmacdl-29745 APSL .tar.gz
libsecurity_filedb-32868 APSL .tar.gz
libsecurity_filevault-28631 APSL .tar.gz
libsecurity_keychain-33583 APSL .tar.gz
libsecurity_ldap_dl-30174 APSL .tar.gz
libsecurity_manifest-29384 APSL .tar.gz
libsecurity_mds-32820 APSL .tar.gz
libsecurity_ocspd-29518 APSL .tar.gz
libsecurity_pkcs12-32085 APSL .tar.gz
libsecurity_sd_cspdl-29159 APSL .tar.gz
libsecurity_smime-32850 APSL .tar.gz
libsecurity_ssl-32463 APSL .tar.gz
libsecurity_utilities-32820 APSL .tar.gz
libsecurityd-33470 APSL .tar.gz
libstdcxx-16 Other .tar.gz
libstdcxx_SUPanWheat-16 Other .tar.gz
libtelnet-7 Other .tar.gz
libutil-11 Other .tar.gz
libxml2-17.7.6 Other .tar.gz
libxslt-8.4.1 Other .tar.gz
lsof-33 Other .tar.gz
lukemftp-11 Other .tar.gz
lukemftpd-33 Other .tar.gz
mDNSResponder-171.4 APSL .tar.gz
mail_cmds-22 Other .tar.gz
mailman-126.1 Other .tar.gz
man-12 Other .tar.gz
misc_cmds-23 Other .tar.gz
modemccl-20 APSL .tar.gz
msdosfs-136.2 APSL .tar.gz
nano-4 Other .tar.gz
nasm-13 Other .tar.gz
ncurses-21 Other .tar.gz
neon-8 Other .tar.gz
net_snmp-112 Other .tar.gz
netcat-7 Other .tar.gz
netinfo-382 APSL .tar.gz
network_cmds-307 APSL .tar.gz
notify-15 APSL .tar.gz
ntfs-52 Other .tar.gz
ntp-37 Other .tar.gz
objc4-371.1 APSL .tar.gz
openmpi-5 Other .tar.gz
pam-32.1 Other .tar.gz
pam_modules-36.1 Other .tar.gz
passwordserver_sasl-118 Other .tar.gz
patch_cmds-11 Other .tar.gz
pb_makefiles-128 APSL .tar.gz
pbx_jamfiles-874 APSL .tar.gz
pdisk-6 Other .tar.gz
perl-51.1.2 Other .tar.gz
portmap-26 Other .tar.gz
postfix-174.1 Other .tar.gz
ppp-314 APSL .tar.gz
procmail-11 Other .tar.gz
project_makefiles-126 APSL .tar.gz
pyOpenSSL-2 Other .tar.gz
pyobjc-14.1.1 Other .tar.gz
python-30.1.2 Other .tar.gz
python23-17.1.1 Other .tar.gz
python_dateutil-2 Other .tar.gz
python_modules-12 Other .tar.gz
rcs-13 Other .tar.gz
remote_cmds-13 Other .tar.gz
removefile-11 APSL .tar.gz
rsync-31 Other .tar.gz
ruby-67.2 Other .tar.gz
ruby_dnssd-6 Other .tar.gz
ruby_libxml-6 Other .tar.gz
samba-187.5 Other .tar.gz
screen-12 Other .tar.gz
security_authtrampoline-32534 APSL .tar.gz
security_certificates-32854 Other .tar.gz
security_certtool-31828 APSL .tar.gz
security_crlrefresh-31832 APSL .tar.gz
security_dotmac_tp-33607 APSL .tar.gz
security_ocspd-32148 APSL .tar.gz
security_privportserver-26778 APSL .tar.gz
security_systemkeychain-33578 APSL .tar.gz
securityd-33639 APSL .tar.gz
shell_cmds-118 Other .tar.gz
smb-348.3 Other .tar.gz
srm-6 Other .tar.gz
stmalloc-4 APSL .tar.gz
subversion-16 Other .tar.gz
sudo-28 Other .tar.gz
svk-9 Other .tar.gz
swig-4 Other .tar.gz
syslog-64 APSL .tar.gz
system_cmds-433.1 APSL .tar.gz
system_config-49 APSL .tar.gz
tcl-64 Other .tar.gz
tcp_wrappers-18 Other .tar.gz
tcpdump-23 Other .tar.gz
tcsh-60 Other .tar.gz
texi2html-5 Other .tar.gz
texinfo-17 Other .tar.gz
text_cmds-69 APSL .tar.gz
tidy-14 Other .tar.gz
top-38 APSL .tar.gz
usertemplate-66 APSL .tar.gz
uucp-10 Other .tar.gz
vim-34 Other .tar.gz
webdavfs-252.6 APSL .tar.gz
wxWidgets-11 Other .tar.gz
xar-28 Other .tar.gz
xelf-1 Other .tar.gz
xnu-1228.5.18 APSL .tar.gz
zip-9 Other .tar.gz
zlib-18 Other .tar.gz
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