

CSR Violates GPL. Ignores all requests for sources - dmitrygr
https://forum.csr.com/forum/main-category/main-forum/software/54778-gpl-sources-please?_=1440972234965

======
dalke
You posted this the other day, at
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10136522](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10136522)
, saying then "The forum [post] was the last attempt" after trying all other
avenues.

I totally get that you are posting this here partially out of a sense of
frustration, partially to get people to know what's going on, and I presume
also to get support.

I think - and this is conjectural - you would get more public support if you
include a few more details, such as:

"I purchased/downloaded a copy of xIDE from Qualcomm" (as the GPL does not
apply upstream when you got it via a third party), "It contains versions of
binutils and gcc which are licensed under the GPL. I verified that these are
under the GPL copyright by doing XYZ. The license requires that there be a way
for me to get the source code from you. Despite many attempts at asking CSR
how to get the source code, I have received no answer. This appears to be
copyright infringement. If I do not get a response soon, I will be contacting
the copyright holders, who have a successful history of prosecuting copyright
infringement cases."

Unfortunately, that would only help improve public empathy. There is nothing
you as a customer can do directly because you are not a copyright holder and
have no standing to sue over copyright infringement. Abstractly speaking
(since we know this isn't the case here), it could be that CSR has a special
waiver to let them use binutils and gcc without having to follow the GPL. You
do not know that, nor can you compel them to reveal if they have such an
agreement.

At this point, your next step should be to read and follow
[http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-
violation.html](http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-violation.html) .

~~~
dmitrygr
did that thanks

------
slgeorge
The likely reason that you are not getting any response is that you're
struggling to navigate through a large organisation. That's the most likely
reason - it's inertia rather and evilness.

Somebody in the CSR (or Qualcomm) legal department will know that they don't
want to violate the GPL. The sales organisation and support don't know
anything about the GPL, probably can't even figure out who internally knows
how to deal with your issue, and it's not really their problem (from their
perspective).

If you want to get this resolved you'll need to find a way through their
internal process. What I would do is one or both of these:

a. Call their main head office by phone

On the contact page there is a UK phone number, phone it and ask for legal or
the PR organisation. You will most likely find it hard to get to the legal
department, but be polite and persist. If you get through to PR point out that
it's a PR problem (to make them care about it) and explain that you want to
talk to someone in the legal department. Make sure you get the name of
whomever you talk to and their number - that way you can be persistent but
polite to someone.

[http://www.csr.com/contact](http://www.csr.com/contact)

b. Contact Qualcomm legal

In the privacy page there is a link where you can fax or phone notice of a
violation. Yeah lawyers are old-fashioned. Send them a nice note specifying
that you believe they are violating the GPL and that you would like the source
etc etc. Note, the downside of this is that you will be talking to Qualcomm
head-office in the USA and it will most likely take them a bit to figure out
what you're talking about and find someone in their subsidiary (CSR) to deal
with you. [https://www.qualcomm.com/site/terms-of-
use](https://www.qualcomm.com/site/terms-of-use)

IF you land-up talking to the legal department don't assume that they know
anything about the GPL. There are a lot of lawyers in a corporate, and only a
handful will know anything - you want to try and get to one of those ones.

You might have tried all this already - in which case apologies. Anyway, Best
of luck!

------
viraptor
The first post was on Friday. The next is on Monday/Sunday depending on your
TZ. I doubt they had the time to prepare any good response in that time. Sure,
they're required to publish the sources, but I'd definitely give them more
than one weekend to respond.

