On October 19, 2021, the Software Freedom Conservancy (SFC) sued
Vizio, Inc. for alleged violations of the GNU General Public
License covering software incorporated into certain Vizio smart
TVs.
Use of open-source software has become increasingly popular in
the development of proprietary commercial computer software,
including software embedded in hardware devices such as consumer
electronic devices. Open-source software can provide important and
useful functionality, and is increasingly used by developers to
reduce development time.
The licensing models under which open-source software is made
available can be thought of as falling into two broad categories:
permissive licenses and copyleft licenses. Permissive open-source
licenses typically do not create significant obstacles to
incorporating the open-source software into proprietary commercial
software products. Copyleft licenses, however, can be extremely
problematic for developers of proprietary software and
