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<title>Violations of the GNU Licenses
- GNU Project - Free Software Foundation</title>

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<h2>Violations of the GNU Licenses</h2>
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<p>
If you think you see a violation of the GNU
<a href="/licenses/gpl.html">GPL</a>,
<a href="/licenses/lgpl.html">LGPL</a>,
<a href="/licenses/agpl.html">AGPL</a>, or
<a href="/licenses/fdl.html">FDL</a>,
the first thing you
should do is double-check the facts:</p>
<ul>
  <li>Does the distribution contain a copy of the License?</li>
  <li>Does it clearly state which software is covered by the License?
       Does it say anything misleading, perhaps giving the impression
       that something is covered by the License when in fact it is not?</li>
  <li>Is source code included in the distribution?</li>
  <li>Is a written offer for source code included with a distribution of
       just binaries?</li>
  <li>Is the available source code complete, or is it designed for
       linking in other non-free  modules?</li>
</ul>

<p>
If there seems to be a real violation, the next thing you need to do
is record the details carefully:</p>

<ul>
<li>the precise name of the product</li>
<li>the name of the person or organization distributing it</li>

<li>email addresses, postal addresses and phone numbers for how to
contact the distributor(s)</li>

<li>the exact name of the package whose license is violated</li>

<li>how the license was violated:
<ul>
    <li>Is the copyright notice of the copyright holder included?</li>
    <li>Is the source code completely missing?</li>
 
    <li>Is there a written offer for source that's incomplete in some
    way?  This could happen if it provides a contact address or
    network URL that's somehow incorrect.</li>

    <li>Is there a copy of the license included in the distribution?</li>

    <li>Is some of the source available, but not all?  If so, what parts
        are missing?</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>

<p>
The more of these details that you have, the easier it is for the
copyright holder to pursue the matter.</p>

<p>
Once you have collected the details, you should send a precise report
to the copyright holder  of the packages that are being misused.   The  copyright holder is  the one who is legally authorized to take action  to enforce  the license.</p> 

<p>
If
 the  copyright holder <strong>is</strong> the Free
Software Foundation, please send the  report
to <a href="mailto:license-violation@gnu.org"><license-violation@gnu.org></a>.
It's
 important that we be able to write back to you to get more
information about the violation or  product.  So,   if you use an
anonymous remailer, please provide a return path of some sort. If
you'd like to encrypt your correspondence, just send a brief mail
saying so, and we'll make appropriate arrangements. Because the FSF
endorsed <a href="https://www.fsf.org/licensing/enforcement-principles">the
Principles of Community-Oriented GPL Enforcement</a>, you can rest
assured that your report will help  to educate the violator rather than
punish them  for their mistake.</p>

<p>
Note that the GPL, and other copyleft licenses, are copyright licenses.
This means that only the copyright holders are empowered  to act against
violations. 
The FSF acts on all GPL violations reported on FSF
copyrighted code, and we offer  assistance  to any other copyright holder who
wishes to  do the same.</p>

<p>
But, we cannot  act on our own if  we do
not hold copyright.  Thus, be sure  to find out who  the copyright
holders of the software are before reporting  a violation.</p> 

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<p class="unprintable">Updated:
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$Date: 2025/12/29 04:34:31 $
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