Question regarding GPL and membership requirements for a standards body

[Akiba]

Hi Klaas.
I think one issue is that the USB-IF doesn't limit its use of the spec to
members. Anyone is able to use it. Only the use of the USB logo, trademarks,
and certification are for members. This is the major difference between
Zigbee. The similar situation exists between Bluetooth where the spec can
only be used by members, but the lowest tier of membership is free. I
believe that's why Bluetooth was allowed in the Linux kernel. 
I've been mulling over this issue a lot, and have discussed it with people
on my blog. Unfortunately, I still haven't found a compelling argument that
the GPL can still be used. I appreciate the input though. 

Akiba
FreakLabs Open Source Zigbee Project
http://www.freaklabs.org

-----Original Message-----
From: Klaas van Gend [mailto:klaas.van.gend at mvista.com] 
Sent: Saturday, June 20, 2009 2:36 AM
To: Akiba
Cc: legal at lists.gpl-violations.org
Subject: Re: Question regarding GPL and membership requirements for a
standards body

Hi Akiba,

To me, this case appears to have similarities to the USB gadget (device)
case and the (old) SD case - and the results are quite different.

You're not supposed to create/ship USB devices without a USB forum
membership (and registering official IDs), but that does not affect the
Linux drivers - they're GPL. The same is true for PCI by the way.
The membership is required to keep the standardization effort afloat and
pay for the organization - not to keep things secret.

The opposite example is the SD card forum.
My company (MontaVista) wrote a GPL software stack for SD back in 2004
and immediately got a cease-and-desist letter from the SD forum (and we
were a member of the forum!) because they did not allow a GPL version of
the code. Fortunately, that requirement has been lessened about two
years ago - and lately everybody happily ships Linux devices with real
SD support - not just MMC support.


Klaas



Akiba wrote:
> Hi.
> 
> I'm running an open source project to implement the Zigbee Protocol
> stack. The code is currently protected by the GPL, however there's been
> a challenge to the validity of the license. The problem comes from the
> fact that the Zigbee Alliance requires membership in order to use its
> spec for commercial projects. Although my code is license free, it's
> claimed that the membership requirement is a licensing fee. If it turns
> out that the code is incompatible with the GPL, I will need to go
> mod-BSD. However I'd like to get a professional opinion on the validity
> of the claim first. Can someone offer some advice?
> 
>  
> 
> More details can be found on this blog post:
> 
> http://freaklabs.org/index.php/Blog/Zigbee/Zigbee-Linux-and-the-GPL.html
> 
>  
> 
> Akiba
> 
> FreakLabs Open Source Zigbee Project
> 
> http://www.freaklabs.org
> 
>  
> 


-- 
Best regards,

Klaas van Gend

Senior Solutions & Services Architect
MontaVista Software
Phone: (408) 572 7962 (Santa Clara Office)
Phone: +31 40 2801386 (for European calls)