"Electronics biz Vizio may be required by a California court to provide source code for its SmartCast TV software, which is allegedly based on open source code licensed under the GPLv2 and LGPLv2.1. The legal complaint from the Software Freedom Conservancy (SFC) seeks access to the SmartCast source code so that Vizio customers can make changes and improvements to the platform, something that ought to be possible for code distributed under the GPL."
"The tentative ruling is not a final decision, but it signals the judge's inclination to grant the SFC's motion for summary adjudication, at least in part. "The tentative ruling [PDF] grants SFC's motion on the issue that a direct contract was made between SFC and Vizio when SFC's systems administrator, Paul Visscher, requested the source code to a TV that SFC has purchased," the SFC said in a blog post. "This contract obligated Vizio to provide SFC the complete and corresponding source code.""
California court action may force Vizio to release the SmartCast TV source code after the Software Freedom Conservancy (SFC) alleged the platform incorporates GPLv2 and LGPLv2.1–licensed components. The SFC filed a complaint seeking source access so customers can modify and improve the platform. Vizio provided incomplete code in 2019, according to the SFC, and negotiations continued until SFC sued in October 2021. A tentative judicial ruling indicates partial support for SFC, finding a direct contract arose when an SFC systems administrator requested source for a purchased TV and that the contract obligated Vizio to supply complete corresponding source. License enforcement litigation in FOSS remains uncommon.
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