I am bringing to your attention the case of PicoTech, a UK-based
hardware producer, whose drivers are clearly GPL-licensed but firmly
refuses to release source code.
You can easily test that the software is released under GPL by
downloading any driver package for the PicoScope-family from their
download page [1], extracting the installer package from the tarball and
running:
> rpm -qip $packagename.rpm
if it is a RPM, or by inspecting the content if it is a DEB (the
debian/control file even containes a link to the GPLv3 online text). I
shall stress that the package contains no other license text (which is a
common practice on Debian-like systems, since all the OSS licenses are
gathered in /usr/share/common-licenses).
I requested source code to their tech support twice, first being
answered with a routine email (attached), then I was ignored for three
days. Their forum contains extensive discussion on this topic ([2] being
the most representative instance), mainly showing two things:
a) they do not seem to realize or understand the clauses of the GPL.
b) they are refusing to comply with the very same license they applied.
As a personal (non-legal, non-formal) aside, the driver itself is a
small 40kB blob whose quality and lack of documentation is simply
blood-curling. Releasing it to the public might allow to understand and
rewrite the protocol in an usable, modern fashion.
Having been ignored for too long now, I am resorting to your help.
Should you need any further information, please answer to my email.
Regards,
--S
[1] http://www.picotech.com/linux.html
[2] http://www.picotech.com/support/topic2429.html
--- Begin Message ---
This is in reference with your Request Ticket Number: TS00056203.
I am sorry but we are not able to provide the source code for our custom drivers.
Kind regards.,
Pico Technical Support
Please reply back to this email without changing the subject line if you have further clarifications.
Pico Technical Support Team
Visit our forum - http://www.picotech.com/support/
--- End Message ---
