A news item from Software Freedom Conservancy. Free software projects can't thrive without support for their contributors to communicate and collaborate. For over 18 years, Lance Albertson has devoted himself to providing critically needed infrastructure for hundreds of the most important free and open source projects through his work at Oregon State University's Open Source Lab (OSUOSL). Besides doing technical work to maintain and improve these services, he has selflessly mentored and suppo...| The Software Freedom Conservancy
Software Freedom Conservancy (SFC) welcomes applications from members of the Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) community to attend the state court trial in the SFC v. Vizio case. The trial will take place in Santa Ana, Orange County, California from September 22–30, 2025. If you are interested, please follow the instructions below to apply for a travel grant to attend the trial. These grants are limited and will be awarded on a competitive basis.| Software Freedom Conservancy
A news item from Software Freedom Conservancy. Software Freedom Conservancy (SFC) announces that we seek summary adjudication on a key issue in our case against the TV manufacturer, Vizio. This Motion for Summary Adjudication (“MSA”) is an important next step in SFC's ongoing case against Vizio — who has been in violation of the copyleft terms of the General Public License, version 2 (GPLv2) and Lesser General Public License, version 2.1 (LGPLv2.1) for many years. SFC's renewed MSA spec...| The Software Freedom Conservancy
Software Freedom Conservancy is pleased to announce its logistical and resource support of the copyleft-next project. Copyleft-next was relaunched this week by Richard Fontana and our own policy fellow, Bradley M. Kuhn. Fontana and Kuhn announced the relaunch to honor the many copyleft historical milestones recently: the eighteenth anniversary of GPLv3's publication this past Sunday, the thirty-fourth anniversary of GPLv2's publication in June, and the thirteenth anniversary of Fontana's orig...| Software Freedom Conservancy
We at Software Freedom Conservancy are excited to bring you the third edition of the FOSSY (Free and Open Source Software Yearly) conference in Portland, Oregon. We have staffers living locally in Oregon, and the long history of OSCON in Portland are among the reasons we started FOSSY there.We signed the FOSSY 2025 venue contract with Portland State University, which has been an excellent venue, just a few days after FOSSY 2024 (in August 2024). At the time, we didn't imagine 2025 would prese...| Software Freedom Conservancy
The liblouis project and Software Freedom Conservancy (SFC) are excited to announce that liblouis has joined SFC as a member project, with the goal of ensuring sustainability and a framework for long-term stewardship of this library that is embedded in many assistive technologies including screen readers, braille displays, and on Android and iPhone mobile devices. As a nonprofit home of liblouis, SFC will provide a home for fundraising, legal assistance, and governance that will benefit all u...| Software Freedom Conservancy
SFC filed an amicus brief in the ongoing case of Neo4j, Inc. v. PureThink, LLC, which is now appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The appeal focuses on a downstream licensee's right under the Affero General Public License, version 3 (and similar rights under GPLv3 and LGPLv3) to remove “Further Restrictions” — even when such restrictions are put in place by original licensors. SFC was proud to stand up for this important right under copyleft, and appears...| Software Freedom Conservancy
Software Freedom Conservancy (SFC) today announces the conclusion of a lawsuit that we funded and supported in Germany. (As is typical with German cases, SFC was unable to give public updates during the case.) The defendant, Berlin-based AVM, ultimately delivered the necessary information to reinstall modified software on their device. Delivery of this information resolved the lawsuit. The plaintiff was Sebastian Steck, who received a grant from SFC to pursue this work. Steck purchased an AVM...| Software Freedom Conservancy
A news item from Software Freedom Conservancy. $204,887 for software freedom pledged The 2024 Software Freedom Conservancy match fundraiser launches today with an historic $204,887 match total! That means for every dollar you donate before January 15th 2025, our generous individual matchers will donate the same, making your donation go twice as far until we reach our goal! SFC prides itself on being funded by individuals like you, who believe that software freedom is a right for everyone. Our...| The Software Freedom Conservancy
A news item from Software Freedom Conservancy. Director of Compliance, Denver Gingerich, speaking before the Library of Congress Software Freedom Conservancy is proud to announce its successful work in the latest triennial DMCA exemption process to stand up for the rights of FOSS developers. This week, the Copyright Office granted all of the exemptions we requested, according to the final rule Exemption to Prohibition on Circumvention of Copyright Protection Systems for Access Control Technol...| The Software Freedom Conservancy
A news item from Software Freedom Conservancy. In 2022, Software Freedom Conservancy (SFC) convened a committee in the wake of Microsoft's GitHub Copilot announcement, to meet and begin considering the complex questions that arise from the use of large language models (LLMs) in generative AI systems that seek to assist software developers. Today, we announce a joint statement by this committee, entitled Machine-Learning-Assisted Programming that Respects User Freedom. Everyone on our committe...| The Software Freedom Conservancy
A news item from Software Freedom Conservancy. Submit track proposals now A view towards the Smith Memorial Student Union, copyright Karen Sandler, CC-BY 3.0 Mark you calendars - FOSSY will return July 31 to August 3, 2025! The next iteration of FOSSY will once again take place at the Portland State University Smith Memorial Student Union. Once again, FOSSY will feature community led tracks on a variety of topics relevant to Free and Open Source Software. You can submit your track proposals n...| The Software Freedom Conservancy
A news item from Software Freedom Conservancy. Submit before June 14th FOSSY 2024 CFP and ticket sales are now open! Join us in Portland, OR on August 1-4th at Portland State University. This year our track selection runs the gamut from Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, Supporting User Groups, FOSS in Education, Reproducibility and much much more. Whether you are a veteran of the FOSS conference circuit, or just starting your speaking career, we want to hear from you! FOSSY is a c...| The Software Freedom Conservancy
A news item from Software Freedom Conservancy. CC-BY 3.0 Join us at FOSSY this year, Thursday August 1st - Sunday August 4th at the Portland State University Smith Memorial Student Union. We're looking forward to convening another conference that shows the multiple facets of what it means to work with, advocate for, and build free software in community. Last year we had over 300 attendees from over 10 countries! There was an incredible diversity of community led tracks, covering FOSS for Educ...| The Software Freedom Conservancy
A news item from Software Freedom Conservancy. SFC launches key tool in the fight for user rights at FOSDEM This past weekend at FOSDEM, Software Freedom Conservancy (SFC) announced an innovative new community tool in the software right to repair: Use The Source. Use The Source is an elegant collaborative platform for users to catalog, find and test source code candidates for real products to verify their reproducibility and reinstallability. Users can discuss whether their device's software ...| The Software Freedom Conservancy
A news item from Software Freedom Conservancy. $325,400 raised for software freedom! This year's fundraiser went right up to the last hour; thanks to all of you for supporting the work we do, and showing us we're on the right track. We're so thankful for meeting our biggest match yet, $161,729 and $1,942 additional raised for a total of $325,400! Our Sustainers and donors showed particular interest in promotion and defense of copyleft, including our case against Vizio, as well as in our work ...| The Software Freedom Conservancy
A news item from Software Freedom Conservancy. Photo CC-BY Outreachy Celebrating 14 Years of Impact In 2023, Outreachy marked a significant milestone in its 14-year journey by welcoming over 1,000 interns into the open source community. This remarkable achievement was commemorated through a series of 6 local celebrations across various countries and 3 virtual events, showcasing the global reach of Outreachy's impact. The celebrations served as a testament to the diversity and inclusivity that...| The Software Freedom Conservancy
A news item from Software Freedom Conservancy. SFC files own “Motion for Summary Adjudication” A very welcome victory in our case against Vizio was presented last week. Judge Sandy Leal denied Vizio's Motion for Summary Judgment, allowing the case to proceed in state court. The Order echoes SFC arguments in court that the claim is not preempted by copyright law and that consumers like SFC have standing to enforce the GPL as third-party beneficiaries to the GPL — without any action by co...| The Software Freedom Conservancy
A news item from Software Freedom Conservancy. After filing our initial comments in the Copyright Office's request for comments, SFC staff have remained engaged in the process — we've given particular attention to comments related to software freedom and rights as assured through copyleft licenses like the GPL. We advocate for your software rights and freedoms in many ways — including participation on public policy discussion of relevant issues, such as this Copyright Office study. In thi...| The Software Freedom Conservancy
A news item from Software Freedom Conservancy. Large coalition against DMCA among right to repair, digital rights and advocacy groups speaks out In the case of Green v. Department of Justice, filed in 2016 concerning section 1201 of the DMCA, Software Freedom Conservancy — along with Public Knowledge, The Digital Right to Repair Coalition, iFixit, The Open Source Hardware Association, and Jonathan Askin, Aaron Perzanowski, and Anthony Rosborough — all joined an amicus curiae brief led by ...| The Software Freedom Conservancy
A news item from Software Freedom Conservancy. Double your contribution to software freedom before January 15th We at Software Freedom Conservancy are proud to be supported by individuals who find the mission of providing ethical technology for all worth investing in. Your support is what lets us develop free and open source alternatives to proprietary technologies like being the home to Inkscape, OpenWrt, Git and many others, support copyleft compliance, and run Outreachy, which just hosted ...| The Software Freedom Conservancy
A news item from Software Freedom Conservancy. SFC warns that “compulsory licensing” undercuts goal of copyleft This week, Software Freedom Conservancy responded to the United States Copyright Office's request for comments to better understand how so-called generative AI systems present new challenges and concerns to copyright. SFC's comments, prepared primarily by our Policy Fellow, Bradley M. Kuhn and Director of Compliance, Denver Gingerich, addressed the unique issues raised in relati...| The Software Freedom Conservancy
A news item from Software Freedom Conservancy. SFC lawyers posing outside the courthouse - CC BY-SA 4.0 Last Thursday, Software Freedom Conservancy took the next step in our ongoing litigation to liberate the complete, corresponding source code for Vizio televisions. Our lawyers argued on our behalf the core legal issues at the center of our case against VIzio. The motion and responses were filed in the weeks prior to the hearing and in-person oral arguments took place before Judge Sandy N. L...| The Software Freedom Conservancy
A news item from Software Freedom Conservancy. Both Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) and Software Freedom Conservancy (SFC) are committed to defending and expanding software freedom and the rights of people to use, understand, share and improve their software. As part of this work, both FSFE and SFC strive to create a software freedom community that is egalitarian, fair, kind, and welcoming to everyone. Sadly, though, we are also aware that toxic behavior, bullying, and other violations...| The Software Freedom Conservancy
Today, we at SFC, along with our OpenWrt member project, announce the production release of the OpenWrt One. This is the first wireless Internet router designed and built with your software freedom and right to repair in mind. The OpenWrt One will never be locked down and is forever unbrickable. This device services your needs as its owner and user. Everyone deserves control of their computing. The OpenWrt One takes a great first step toward bringing software rights to your home: you can cont...| Software Freedom Conservancy
Update (2023-11-14): Unfortunately, the Court was not swayed by the expert report discussed below. If the SFC were the copyright holder of the text of the AGPLv3, or the trademark holder of the license's name, we would have intervened in this case to clarify these matters for the Court. Since the SFC did not create the AGPLv3 (our employees were involved in GPLv3-related drafting, but not on behalf of SFC), filing the expert report was the only action that SFC could take to assist in this mat...| Software Freedom Conservancy