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A Boston-based nonprofit organization that advocates for free software announced that it has filed a copyright infringement law suit against the world’s largest maker of computer networking gear.

 

Officials at the Free Software Foundation, or “FSF,” say that San Jose, California-based Cisco Systems Inc. have denied users the right to share and modify software by violating licenses of programs to which they hold copyright.

 

Mostly, FSF officials say, Cisco (News - Alert), in some of its Linksys-branded products, committed violations of programs based on its “GNU is Not UNIX,” or “GNU,” operating system. Linksys (News - Alert) is most known for providing wireless and broadband routers, as well as VoIP equipment and small business Ethernet switching products.

 

Effectively, the law suit accuses Cisco of preventing users the right to share and modify its GNU software. GNU was designed to provide an alternative to UNIX.

 

According to Richard Stallman, president and founder of the FSF, the organization’s licenses are designed to ensure that everyone who uses the software can change it.

 

“In order to exercise that right, people need the source code, and that’s why our licenses require distributors to provide it,” said Stallman, pictured right. “We are enforcing our licenses to protect the rights that everyone should have with all software: to use it, share it, and modify it as they see fit.”

 

Cisco officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

 

The suit was filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in New York, according to the FSF.

 

According to Peter Brown, executive director of the FSF, free software developers entrust their copyrights to the FSF so that the organization can make sure that their work is always redistributed in ways that respect user freedom.

 

“In the 15 years we’ve spent enforcing our licenses, we’ve never gone to court before,” Brown said. “We have always managed to get the companies we have worked with to take their obligations seriously. But at the end of the day, we’re also willing to take the legal action necessary to ensure users have the rights that our licenses guarantee.”