Software Freedom Conservancy (SFC) recently complete the most significant trial in copyleft enforcement history. In Orange County, California, USA, SFC sued Vizio — a manufacturer of ARM-based televisions — for long-standing violations of the GPLv2 and LGPLv2.1. The trial was groundbreaking as it was not a copyright case, but rather a contractual claim as a third-party beneficiary. Additionally, SFC asked the Court to award the specific-performance for the complete, corresponding source code, including “the scripts used to control complication and installation of the executable[s].”
This talk will explain what's going on with the case (and, possibly, what happened at trial, as it may have occurred in full by the time of SCALE 2026!). The talk will also discuss why it is significant to every Linux user and every consumer who buys electronic devices, and what is next for copyleft.
2026 begins a new area of copyleft enforcement. Learn what's brought us here and what's coming next. Come to this talk and learn about how the trial went, what we expect for the future of copyleft.
