Mar 05, 2024 19:00:00

Major telecommunications carrier Orange is ordered to pay damages of over 100 million yen for violating the free software license ``GPL''

The GNU General Public License (GPL) , a type of open source license, is a license that allows the modification and redistribution of code, and the same rights apply to derivative works using the code. For violating the GPL, Orange , a major French telecommunications carrier, was ordered to pay a total of 650,000 euros (approximately 106 million yen) in damages.

French Court Issues Damages Award for Violation of GPL – Copyleft Currents
https://heathermeeker.com/2024/02/17/french-court-issues-damages-award-for-violation-of-gpl/

French court backs the GPL
https://www.fudzilla.com/news/58561-french-court-backs-the-gpl

In 2005, Orange contracted with the French government to develop part of the portal site service-public.fr, which allows users to complete administrative procedures online. In its development, Orange used a free library called Lasso released by software development company Entr'ouvert .

Lasso supports a protocol where identity providers authenticate users and pass authentication tokens to online services, enabling single sign-on (SSO) . Lasso is provided by Entr'ouvert under the GPL or commercial license, but Orange did not use a commercial license, did not release the source code under the GPL, and did not transfer the rights to modify it free of charge. .

Entr'ouvert filed a lawsuit in 2010 claiming that Orange used Lasso in violation of the GPL. Since the GPL only allows the modification and copying of source code under a license and does not mean that the developer has waived copyright, the issue was whether Orange's actions constituted copyright infringement.

In March 2021, the Court of Appeal dismissed Entr'ouvert's copyright infringement claims, but France's Supreme Court issued an order reversing the appeal in October 2022. As a result, the case was returned to the Court of Appeals, and on February 14, 2024, a judgment was finally issued ordering Orange to pay damages. Orange must pay Entr'ouvert 500,000 euros (approximately 82 million yen) in damages and 150,000 euros (approximately 24 million yen) in moral damages for a total of 650,000 euros for violating the GPL. there is.

This ruling was also featured on the social news site Hacker News, and the fact that GPL violation was acknowledged 10 years after the lawsuit was filed has attracted the attention of many users.

French court issues damages award for violation of GPL | Hacker News

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39587344

One user commented : 'Why did it take 14 years to resolve something so simple?', criticizing France's inefficient courts as unreliable.

Mr. bdauvergne, who actually developed Lasso at Entr'ouvert,

responded to this comment. According to bdauvergne, ``The judge first urged a reduction in damages, but negotiations with Orange broke down,'' and ``The judge asked experts to determine whether Orange's actions really violated the GPL.'' ``Entr'ouvert's argument was not fully accepted when he first won the case at the appellate court, so he appealed and requested that the appellate court's decision be overturned.'' That's why it took so long. Furthermore, the French judiciary lacks funding and resources, and litigation over free software licenses is rare in the first place, and the judges were not used to litigation like this one, which is why the trial took so long. bdauvergne pointed out.