Microsoft commits to solving open source licensing issues, rather than litigating

Microsoft is one of the ten companies committed to working through open source software licensing problems involving the GPL with customers, before resorting to legal action. Joining Red Hat, Facebook, Google and IBM, Microsoft has recently reiterated its commitment towards open source. It has extended support to work for the ‘Common Cure Rights Commitment’ to cure open source licensing noncompliance before taking legal measures.

The partner companies that have agreed to adopt the ‘Common Cure Rights Commitment’ have said that before they file or continue to prosecute those accused of violating covered licences, they will allow for users to cure and reinstate their licences.

In a blog post, Microsoft mentioned that it’s been 10 years since the company submitted its first patch to a GPLv2 project (ADOdb, a database abstraction layer for PHP). The blog stated that Microsoft’s decision to group with these vendors around open source licensing notes that licensees of GPLv2 code will get “…a reasonable period of time to correct licence compliance issues.”

Recently, Microsoft made plans to work along with CA Technologies, Cisco, HPE, SAP and SUSE. Together, these firms will provide more predictability for users of open source software. The move is the latest from Microsoft in its campaign to become a leading open source ecosystem member.

Announcing the new licence-compliance partners, Red Hat sources informed, “The large ecosystems of projects using the GPLv2 and LGPLv2.x licences will benefit from the adoption of this more balanced approach to termination derived from GPLv3.”