Software Freedom Conservancy v. Vizio Inc.

About the case

Modern smart TVs come with software that tracks viewing habits to deliver targeted advertising directly on the TV screen. Software Freedom Conservancy purchased a Vizio TV to develop an open-source version of the operating system that was more customizable and didn't track users to show them ads. This Vizio TV runs on Linux, an operating system that legally requires manufacturers to share the code that lets users customize their devices. When SFC asked Vizio to provide the complete, corresponding source code (“CCS”), they refused. SFC sued Vizio in the Orange County Superior Court to receive this essential information.

When Vizio chose to use Linux in its TVs, it accepted Linux's reciprocal contract, which gives purchasers all the rights that Vizio had, to modify and install the software onto the Vizio TV. However, when SFC asked Vizio to hold up its end of the bargain, by giving SFC the source code that SFC was owed so SFC could make the TVs better serve their users, Vizio refused.  After multiple years of back and forth with Vizio, SFC knew the only way Vizio would comply with the license and give SFC the CCS was to sue Vizio.  So in October 2021 SFC sued Vizio in California state court.

The lawsuit is filed as a third-party beneficiary of GPLv2 (the license and contract that Linux and other software uses).  This means that, as a purchaser of a Vizio TV, SFC has rights in the contract that Vizio has with the developers of Linux and other software Vizio uses. SFC seeks to confirm in the courts that purchasers of devices running Linux and other software with reciprocal licenses like GPLv2 have a legal right to ask for, and receive, the source code for those devices, so they can adapt the software to their needs, and make practical use of those adaptations by being able to install those changes back onto the devices they purchased.

We have already seen the huge benefits that GPLv2 provides to device purchasers through projects like OpenWrt, which allows owners of broadband routers to customize the functionality and features of these devices to better serve them. As an example, users can install ad-blocking software on their router to keep invasive advertising away from their children. This is just one of many ways that companies complying with the GPL is important, and why SFC wants to confirm this third-party right to source code in the courts.