Re:The kernel community confronts GPL enforcement
by toyg on Thursday September 01, 2016 @03:57PM
(#12408367)
> if everyone's getting some candy.
The point is that people going to the SFC for help are clearly "not getting some candy", otherwise they wouldn't be bitching. A "non-enforcement" deal is much, much sweeter for corporations and sociopaths than it is for people doing the actual work.
No, it's GPL. It's a perfectly reasonable, and not uncommon, strategy to use legal instruments for protective or signalling reasons but not as an offensive weapon.
Patents are a similar example. They're often held defensively and for cultural signalling. When they're pursued aggressively, it's generally considered trolling.
And yeah, it's a sweet deal. TBH I think that's the point - a lot of people get a sweet deal, including corporations. Where the argument seems to lie is how much should we care about free loaders if everyone's getting some candy.