Why GPL Enforcement Is Essential to OpenWrt/LEDE’s Past and Future

Bradley M. Kuhn

Thursday 13 October 2016

The Guiding Moral Theory


Fighting for software freedom means trying to build a world where every user has the unencumbered, inalienable right to copy, share, modify, redistribute, upgrade and improve all the software on which they rely.

The Final Goal


IMO, the final goal of the software freedom movement is to change the world so that all software available is Free Software, giving every users those key inalienable rights.

What is Copyleft?

Formal Definition of Copyleft


Copyleft is a strategy of utilizing copyright law to pursue the policy goal of fostering & encouraging the equal & inalienable right to copy, share, modify & improve creative works of authorship. Copyleft … describes any method that utilizes the copyright system to achieve the aforementioned goal. Copyleft as a concept is usually implemented in the details of a specific copyright license … Copyright holders of creative work can unilaterally implement these licenses for their own works to build communities that collaboratively share & improve those copylefted creative works.

— Definition of copyleft from copyleft.org

It’s Not Magic

Copyleft is not magic pixie dust.

What is GPL Enforcement?

What’s a GPL Violation?

How This Relates to OpenWrt

Where It All Began

First, the End of the Story

How We Got There

Dealing With Broadcom

Dealing With Broadcom

Was It the Right Deal?

Culture of Enforcement-Born Projects

What’s Next

What about FCC & Other Regulators?

What about FCC & Other Regulators?


There is more hard work ahead of us as we finalize rules, and we welcome continued input from manufacturers, users, technologists, and others.

Julius Knapp, FCC on November 12, 2015

Reusing the Strategy

Bringing The Issue Forward

Bringing The Issue Forward

More Info / Talk License

Presentation and slides are: Copyright © 2015, 2016 Bradley M. Kuhn, and are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International License.