Kernel contributions from organisations and individual privacy

[greg@kroah.com (Greg KH)]

On Thu, Jun 11, 2015 at 07:26:23PM -0400, Ruben Safir wrote:
> Lets say Apple decides that are going to take the Linux Kernel and
> alter it extensively, in order for it to work with a new hardware platform 
> that they created. And lets say don't return the code base to the public.  
> Now who is going to protect the license and sue them?  You have literaly 
> thousands of partiticpants who have standing now in this case.  Apple can just
> blow there nose at you if they are willing to put up with the bad publicity.

Like I tell companies all the time when they ask me about this, "Look at
the major copyright holders of the kernel, do you think your lawyers are
better than Intel and IBM's lawyers?"

And like Rik points out, you end up with thousands of different
companies and individuals who can enforce the license, which is a
wonderful thing to have and has worked out quite well so far.

So all is well, don't fret.

greg k-h