FTF and gpl-violations release a guide to reporting and fixing licence
violations

2008-12-08, Zürich, Graeme West, FSFE

FSFE's Freedom Task Force (FTF) and GPL-Violations.org today released a
guide to reporting and fixing licence compliance issues.

This guide will help users and developers to deal with license violation
reports. It explains how to make a report, what information is useful to
include, and offers suggestions for how projects or businesses can deal
with reports once they are received.

The guide is released as part of the strategic partnership between the
FTF and GPL-Violations.org, who work together to improve licensing
awareness and compliance in Europe. It is located on the new FTF
website, http://www.fsfeurope.org/ftf, along with information on how
projects and businesses can get help with understanding Free Software
licences. Translations into several European languages will be made
available during coming weeks from the FTF website.

"The best way to solve compliance issues is to prevent them happening in
the first place", says Shane Coughlan, FTF Coordinator. "We work to
support this by educating the community at large. When problems do
occur, we want people to be able to share information and resolve them
effectively."


About the Freedom Task Force:

The Freedom Task Force is a project run by Free=2 0Software Foundation
Europe to help people understand Free Software licensing and the
opportunities it presents. We offer educational services, facilitate
larger infrastructure activities and manage FSFE's legal affairs.
Our goals are to share knowledge about Free Software law, to
safeguard the interests of Free Software projects, to connect experts
in this field and to help other groups achieve similar goals. We
believe in positive, constructive dialogue and seek at all times to
support the long-term sustainability of Free Software.</p>

The FTF's homepage can be found at http://www.fsfeurope.org/ftf
You can contact us vi a email: ftf @ fsfeurope.org

You can phone us at:
Belgium: +32 2 747 03 57 Ext. 22
Germany: +49 700 373 38 76 73 Ext. 22
Sweden: +46 31 7802160 Ext. 22
Switzerland: +41 43 500 03 66 Ext. 22
UK: +44 29 200 08 17 7 Ext. 22

Press contact: Shane Coughlan, FTF Coordinator, FSFE extension: 408


About gpl-violations.org:

In the past 40 months, gpl-violations.org has helped uncover and
negotiate more than 100 GPL violations and has obtained numerous
out-of-court settlement agreements. The gpl-violations.org project
is a not-for-profit effort=2 0to bring commercial users and vendors of
Free Software into compliance with the licence conditions as set
forth by the original authors. The project was founded and is
managed by Mr. Harald Welte, a Linux Kernel developer and Free
Software enthusiast.

For more information on the project, its mission, milestones and
goals, please see http://gpl-violations.org


About the Free Software Foundation Europe:

The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) is a non-profit
non-governmental organisation active in many European countries and
involved in many global activities. Access to software determines
particip ation in a digital society. To secure equal participation in
the information age, as well as freedom of competition, the Free
Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) pursues and is dedicated to the
furthering of Free Software, defined by the freedoms to use, study,
modify and copy. Founded in 2001, creating awareness for these
issues, securing Free Software politically and legally, and giving
people Freedom by supporting development of Free Software are central
issues of the FSFE.

FSFE's homepage can be found at http://www.fsfeurope.org

You can reach the FSFE switchboard from:
Belgium: +32 2 747 03=2 057
Germany: +49 700 373 38 76 73
Sweden: +46 31 7802160
Switzerland: +41 43 500 03 66
UK: +44 29 200 08 17 7

Further information: http://www.fsfeurope.org

________________________________________________________________________________
How is education supposed to make me feel smarter? Besides, every time I learn something new, it pushes some old stuff out of my brain. Remember when I took that home winemaking course, and I forgot how to drive? - Homer

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