14 March 2013, 12:57

German court case confirms validity of the LGPL

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Buhl Data Service GmbH, the developer of the WISO Mein Büro 2009 software has agreed to pay €15,000 (approximately £13,000) to adhoc dataservice GmbH for using its LGPL-licensed FreeadhocUDF open source library in his business software without observing the LGPL's licensing terms. The GNU Lesser Public Licence allows software to be used free of charge, but it stipulates that developers must give prominent notice to where the licensed code was used, point out that the code is under the LGPL, include a copy of the LGPL, and make the library's source code available.

The payment was negotiated as a settlement between the involved parties and concludes a court case. Back in January 2011, the regional court in Bochum, Germany, had ruled that the use of the FreeadhocUDF library in WISO Mein Büro 2009 was not legitimate because it violated the LGPL's licensing terms. The court ruled that adhoc dataservice GmbH was, therefore, entitled to know in which products the library was used, what product quantities were released, and how much revenue was generated.

(fab)

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