[Fwd: Re: ASUS SplashTop and Phoenix Hyperspace infringing kernel copyright and GPL]

[Stan Cunningham]

--- On Wed, 5/21/08, Joseph Heenan <joseph at heenan.me.uk> wrote:
> From: Joseph Heenan <joseph at heenan.me.uk>
> Subject: [Fwd: Re: ASUS SplashTop and Phoenix Hyperspace infringing kernel copyright and GPL]
> To: legal at lists.gpl-violations.org
> Date: Wednesday, May 21, 2008, 8:07 PM
> Sergei has apparently had problems posting to the list, so
> I've 
> forwarded this.

Sergei's message can be found at http://lists.gpl-violations.org/pipermail/legal/attachments/20080521/f74f7e2d/ASUSSplashTopandPhoenixHyperspaceinfringingkernelcopyrightandGPL-0001.mht

Hi Sergei,

DeviceVM is only obligated to provide the source code to whomever DeviceVM is distributing the binary to. If ASUS is the one distributing the binary to consumers, it is ASUS' obligation to provide the full source code as well. ASUS cannot hide under section c) of the GPL and point to Splashtop/DeviceVM's website because ASUS is distributing the binary on a _commercial_ product. 

As for whether DeviceVM is fulfilling the obligations of the GPL to your direct customers: pasting the link to the 12MB download containing only patches into your "written offer" is _not_ enough. The Source Code must be complete, and sorry, patches don't qualify as complete by the farthest stretch of the immagination. As people have said earlier on this thread, the GPL doesn't mention patches at all -- it talks about "complete machine-readable" source code.

As for your assertion that you're in the process of releasing the full source code: it's at least 6 months too late, and all this time you have been infringing on the copyrights of Linux kernel developers whose code didn't appear on the patches.

I suggest that DeviceVM promptly post the complete, modified source code of the exact Linux kernel you are distributing in Splashtop.

Thanks,
Stan