Most people in the community know that any consumer product advertised as “smart” on the market is likely to have some form of Linux running behind the scenes. We are also acutely aware that when it comes to using Linux and other GPL licensed software in products (i.e. publishing modified source code), it is not always as easy for the company to stick to the end as it should.
Occasionally, these non-compliance companies will annoy some people so much that they actually try to take some measures, which is what smart TV manufacturer Vizio has found himself. The software freedom Protection Association (SFC) recently announced that they are suing the Irvine, California based company for repeatedly failing to meet the requirements of GPL when developing smartcast TV firmware supported by Linux. In addition to the Linux kernel, SFC also claims that Vizio is using modified versions of various other works protected by GPL and LGPL, such as u-boot, bash, gawk, tar, glibc and ffmpeg.
According to the SFC press release, the group does not seek any monetary compensation. They just want Vizio to do what they need to do according to the GPL and release smartcast source code. They hope this will allow the development of alternative firmware similar to openwrt for the old Vizio smart TV. This is particularly important because older models usually stop receiving updates and, in many cases, will no longer be able to access all the services they claim to support. Obviously, the SFC wants to see this case as part of a larger repair right debate. Given that we see some bad firmware attached to smart TVs, we tend to agree.
Of course, we have seen similar cases before. However, the uniqueness of this point is that the CSRC does not represent that its software is found to be a developer of Vizio smartcast. They are actually plaintiffs. If consumers buy Vizio products containing GPL software, the CSRC is regarded as a third-party beneficiary, and they just ask the court to pay their due amount according to the license terms.
As a strong supporter of the open source movement, we will never tolerate anyone who violates the license. Vizio is not a teenager with wide eyes. They copy the code found in GitHub without understanding its meaning. This is a multi billion dollar company. We should definitely know better. We are glad to see that they twisted in the wind before they were finally forced to abide by the rules.