[GNU/FSF Press] FSF To Host Free Software Licensing Seminars and Discussions on SCO v. IBM in New York

[Bradley M. Kuhn]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media Contact: Free Software Foundation
               Ravi Khanna <address@hidden>
               Phone: +1-617-542-5942

               FSF To Host Free Software Licensing Seminars
                and Discussions on SCO v. IBM in New York

Boston, MA, USA - Friday, January 2, 2004 - The Free Software Foundation
(FSF) will host two seminars on Free Software Licensing and the GNU GPL
and a series of conversations with Professor Eben Moglen on the SCO
v. IBM lawsuit.  These events will take place at Columbia Law School
in New York City on January 20 and 21, 2004.

In the last few months, the Santa Cruz Organization Group (SCO) has been
sowing confusion and misinformation regarding the validity of the GNU
General Public License (GPL) as part of their strategy to extort money
from users of the kernel named Linux, which is licensed under FSF's GPL.
These seminars and discussions will present the facts about the license
from FSF, its creators, who authored the license in 1989.  Today, the GNU
GPL is the most popular and widely used Free Software copyright license.

The seminars will provide detailed study and analysis of the GPL,
review GPL enforcement cases handled by FSF's GPL Compliance Laboratory,
and consider legal ethics in Free Software Licensing.  Daniel Ravicher,
Senior Counsel to FSF, and Bradley M. Kuhn, Executive Director of FSF,
will lead the seminars.

The first seminar, "Detailed Study and Analysis of GPL and LGPL",
held on January 20, 2004, will give a section-by-section explanation
of the GPL, and will educate lawyers, software developers, managers and
business people on how to use the GPL (and GPL'd software) successfully
in new Free Software businesses and in existing, successful enterprises.

The second seminar, "GPL Compliance Case Studies and Legal Ethics in
Free Software Licensing" held on January 21, 2004, will present the
details of a few different GPL compliance cases handled by FSF's GPL
Compliance Laboratory.  Each case offers unique insights into problems
that arise when the terms of the GPL are not properly followed, and how
diplomatic negotiation between the violator and the copyright holder can
yield positive results for both parties. This seminar also includes a
unit on the ethical considerations for attorneys who want to represent
clients that make, use, or sell Free Software products.

FSF will also host "SCO Without Fear", a series of two lunchtime
conversations with Professor Eben Moglen, who serves on FSF's Board
and as its General Counsel.  He will discuss the SCO v. IBM lawsuit
and SCO's attacks on Free Software, and their implications for the
development and use of Free Software.  Some of Prof. Moglen's
earlier writings on the SCO v. IBM lawsuit can be found at
http://www.fsf.org/philosophy/sco/sco.html.  These conversations will
also be held on January 20-21, 2004 at Columbia University in New York.

More details about these events are available at
http://www.fsf.org/licenses/NYC_Seminars_Jan2004.html.


About Free Software Foundation:

The Free Software Foundation, founded in 1985, is dedicated to promoting
computer users' right to use, study, copy, modify, and redistribute
computer programs.  The FSF promotes the development and use of Free
(as in freedom) Software - particularly the GNU operating system and
its GNU/Linux variants - and Free Documentation for Free Software.
The FSF also helps to spread awareness of the ethical and political
issues of freedom in the use of software.  Their web site, located
at http://www.fsf.org, is an important source of information about
GNU/Linux. They are headquartered in Boston, MA, USA.


About Eben Moglen:

Eben Moglen is Professor of Law and Legal History at the Columbia Law
School, where he has taught since 1987. He clerked for Judge Edward
Weinfeld of the United State District Court for the Southern District
of New York and for Justice Thurgood Marshall of the United States
Supreme Court. Before and during law school he was a designer and
implementer of advanced computer programming languages at IBM's Santa
Teresa Laboratory and Thomas J. Watson Research Center. His principal
areas of interest are Anglo American legal history, constitutional law,
computers and free expression, and intellectual property. Since 1993,
he has served as pro bono General Counsel for the Foundation and has
served on its board since July 2000.


Copyright (C) 2004, Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place -
Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111, USA

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