by gpm 6 hours ago

Is the SFC just asking for code at this point, or are they also asking for damages?

hn_acker 4 hours ago | [-2 more]
neilv 4 hours ago | [-1 more]

Do you think they could be trying to open up the TV firmware, like when the WRT54G settlement launched what became OpenWrt and other open firmware projects?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linksys_WRT54G_series#Third-pa...

That kind of thing is both a deterrent to commercial violation of licenses (unplanned open sourcing), and moves open source forward.

Though I also like the idea of monetary penalties large enough to be a deterrent.

hn_acker an hour ago | [-0 more]

> Do you think they could be trying to open up the TV firmware

Yes, SFC is indeed trying to open up the software as happened with OpenWrt [1], though in this case the software in question is the operating system instead of the firmware.

I think the SFC also wanted to establish a legal precedent about the rights given by the GPLv2 to users. Unfortunately, such a precedent might not be forthcoming [2].

[1] https://sfconservancy.org/copyleft-compliance/vizio.html

[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46167410