Press Release — Boston, Massachusetts, USA – Friday,
March, 1, 2002 – In a decision handed down today in
Boston, US District Judge Patti B. Saris ruled on the preliminary
injunction motion in MySQL AB vs. Progress Software Corp. On the
trademark dispute, on which the Free Software Foundation (FSF)
takes no position, she has ruled that Progress Software is enjoined
from marketing products under the MySQL trademarks until trial.
On the matter of Progress’ distribution rights under GNU GPL,
she has not granted an injunction. In the public hearing this week,
Judge Saris made clear that she sees the GNU GPL to be an
enforceable and binding license, but that as long as Progress
Software appears to be presently in compliance with the GNU GPL,
there is probably no irreparable harm being caused to MySQL AB.
Since Progress did previously distribute in violation of the GNU
GPL and thus did harm MySQL AB and the Free Software community, the
FSF expects MySQL to prevail at trial on these claims. The Court
recognizes in today’s order that MySQL “seems to have the better
argument”.
The Court fully recognized the need for expert testimony at
trial about the GNU GPL and the technical facts at hand,
particularly as to why static linking of software components into a
single, unified, compiled binary forms a derivative work of the
original components. As publishers of the GNU GPL and defenders of
software freedom, the FSF has a basic ethical imperative to educate
the public and the judiciary about the license and its terms. The
FSF respects the due process of law, and thus plans to continue to
offer our General Counsel as an expert witness; Professor Moglen
has donated his time to the MySQL legal team, as he donates his
time to the Foundation, for the public good. The FSF believes that
the best way to serve the Free Software community is to educate and
clear up common misconceptions about the GNU GPL, and will continue
to do so despite attacks from those who oppose software
freedom.
Copyright (C) 2002 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
59 Temple Place – Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111, USA
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