Cisco sued by Free Software Foundation

In a surprise move, the Free Software Foundation (FSF) has filed a lawsuit against network giant Cisco for copyright infringement. At the heart of the issue is Cisco's alleged violation of the open source code that is embedded in its Linksys line of networking products. Cisco acquired Linksys for $500 million in 2003.

The FSF claims Cisco failed to provide end users with access to the source code for the open source software that it used in its products--as the company was legally obligated to under General Public License and Lesser General Public License. Indeed, FSF charged that Cisco brushed off its complaints and that "discussions have now proven unfruitful."

As reported by ITnews Australia, licensing compliance engineer at the FSF, Brett Smith explains the situation, "We began working with Cisco in 2003 to help them establish a process for complying with our software licenses, and the initial changes were very promising. Unfortunately, they never put in the effort that was necessary to finish the process, and now five years later we have still not seen a plan for compliance. As a result, we believe that legal action is the best way to restore the rights we grant to all users of our software."

Cisco has issued a statement in the meantime: "Cisco is a strong supporter of open source software. Cisco takes its open source software obligations and responsibilities seriously and is disappointed that a suit has been filed by the Free Software Foundation related to our work with them in our Linksys Division. We are currently reviewing the issues raised in the suit, but believe we are substantially in compliance. We have always worked very closely with the FSF and hope to reach a resolution agreeable to the company and the foundation."

In its court filing, FSF is asking for the court to stop Cisco from further distributing code containing copyrighted code from the FSF, as well all profits related to its infringement of the GPL/LGPL license. It is hard to imagine Cisco will let this case drag through a lengthy court battle and tarnish its stellar reputation, whether they eventually win or not. At the same time, FSF is probably not so much suing for damages as a trying to get Cisco to take more concrete action on this matter.

For more on this story:
- check out this article from NetworkWorld
- check out this article from InformationWeek
- check out this article from ITnews Australia

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