Stockfish Sues ChessBase (stockfishchess.org) 21
Slashdot reader Hmmmmmm shares a blog post from Stockfish announcing a lawsuit against ChessBase: The Stockfish project strongly believes in free and open-source software and data. Collaboration is what made this engine the strongest chess engine in the world. We license our software using the GNU General Public License, Version 3 (GPL) with the intent to guarantee all chess enthusiasts the freedom to use, share and change all versions of the program. Unfortunately, not everybody shares this vision of openness. We have come to realize that ChessBase concealed from their customers Stockfish as the true origin of key parts of their products (see also earlier blog posts by us and the joint Lichess, Leela Chess Zero, and Stockfish teams). Indeed, few customers know they obtained a modified version of Stockfish when they paid for Fat Fritz 2 or Houdini 6 -- both Stockfish derivatives -- and they thus have good reason to be upset. [ChessBase released Fat Fritz 2, described on their website as the "new number 1" chess engine "with a massive new neural network, trained by Albert Silver with the original Fat Fritz." They advertise Fat Fritz 2 as using novel strong ideas compared to existing chess engines, but in reality Fat Fritz 2 is just Stockfish with a different neural network and minimal changes that are neither innovative nor appear to make the engine stronger.] ChessBase repeatedly violated central obligations of the GPL, which ensures that the user of the software is informed of their rights. These rights are explicit in the license and include access to the corresponding sources, and the right to reproduce, modify and distribute GPLed programs royalty-free.
In the past four months, we, supported by a certified copyright and media law attorney in Germany, went through a long process to enforce our license. Even though we had our first successes, leading to a recall of the Fat Fritz 2 DVD and the termination of the sales of Houdini 6, we were unable to finalize our dispute out of court. Due to Chessbase's repeated license violations, leading developers of Stockfish have terminated their GPL license with ChessBase permanently. However, ChessBase is ignoring the fact that they no longer have the right to distribute Stockfish, modified or unmodified, as part of their products. Thus, to enforce the consequences of the license termination, we have filed a lawsuit. This lawsuit is broadly supported by the team of maintainers and developers of Stockfish. We believe we have the evidence, the financial means and the determination to bring this lawsuit to a successful end. We will provide an update to this statement once significant progress has been made.
In the past four months, we, supported by a certified copyright and media law attorney in Germany, went through a long process to enforce our license. Even though we had our first successes, leading to a recall of the Fat Fritz 2 DVD and the termination of the sales of Houdini 6, we were unable to finalize our dispute out of court. Due to Chessbase's repeated license violations, leading developers of Stockfish have terminated their GPL license with ChessBase permanently. However, ChessBase is ignoring the fact that they no longer have the right to distribute Stockfish, modified or unmodified, as part of their products. Thus, to enforce the consequences of the license termination, we have filed a lawsuit. This lawsuit is broadly supported by the team of maintainers and developers of Stockfish. We believe we have the evidence, the financial means and the determination to bring this lawsuit to a successful end. We will provide an update to this statement once significant progress has been made.
Good for them. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
I would actually be surprised if it made it into a courtroom, and shocked if it lasted to verdict. I expect this case to be settled out of court rather quickly.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I hate copyright lawyers... (Score:1, Interesting)
Except when they're suing to defend Open Source.
Re: (Score:1)
Re:Stockfish doesn't understand GPL. (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3)
Re:Stockfish doesn't understand GPL. (Score:5, Informative)
As usual the overconfident AC doesn't understand what they're talking about [gnu.org].
"went through a long process to enforce our license"
The license is not "theirs" to enforce. They released their software under "the" GPL license, not "their" GPL license.
"leading developers of Stockfish have terminated their GPL license"
1) The developers of Stockfish have no right to terminate a GPL license
2) A GPL license is terminated automatically upon violation
In this context "their license" means the license they chose to release "their" software under. And it is definitely their software since they wrote it and have the copyright.
And there's automatic termination and reinstatement language in the GPLv3, but from the description ChessBase have hosed themselves in that regard. However, there's nothing saying the holders of the copyright are not allowed to grant ChessBase a NEW license, which would have been the alternative once ChessBase ran out of chances encoded in the GPL itself and needed to rely on the goodwill of the devs.
Stockfish has no standing to sue because the have not suffered a tangible, quantifiable loss as the result of the alleged infringement. It would have to be up to someone who actually had standing to sue to correct the alleged GPL violations.
I can't sue because I don't have standing. But the Stockfish devs hold the copyright, ChessBase violated the copyright, it's a slam dunk case for standing. If ChessBase is making money off the stolen IP then that's a fairly simple starting point for damages. The fact Stockfish devs didn't choose to monetize the same way doesn't mean they didn't get tangible benefits from Stockfish.
Frankly, the only odd thing I find is the definition of "leading Stockfish developers". The copyright is assigned to the list of authors in the authors file, but I didn't see a mechanism for adjudicating copyright disputes. Any subset of devs can sue ChessBase, but say they come to a settlement and allow ChessBase to start distributing Stockfish derived code again. I suspect all authors who hold copyright would need to agree to re-instate the license.
Re: (Score:2)
Frankly, the only odd thing I find is the definition of "leading Stockfish developers".
I think it's just because people who contribute to Stockfish proper assume the owners of the repository will represent all contributors.
Re: (Score:2)
Frankly, the only odd thing I find is the definition of "leading Stockfish developers".
I think it's just because people who contribute to Stockfish proper assume the owners of the repository will represent all contributors.
True, but I don't think that's a definition that will hold up in a court of law.
Of course, the Stockfish folks do have a lawyer, so presumably this is something they've looked into and accounted for.
ChessBase Response (Score:2)
On their blog, ChessBase provides email exchanges where a Stockfish developer allowed them to use the software under the terms they presented.
At the time, Fat Fritz wasnâ(TM)t as big; otherwise there would have been a bigger issue.
Re:ChessBase Response (Score:4)
A link would have been helpful. I can't find anything like that by searching for "stockfish" on chessbase.com, via google.
Re: (Score:2)
On their blog, ChessBase provides email exchanges where a Stockfish developer allowed them to use the software under the terms they presented.
At the time, Fat Fritz wasnâ(TM)t as big; otherwise there would have been a bigger issue.
To use the software under terms other than the GPLv3 ChessBase would need agreement of all the copyright holders.
A Stockfish developer could give them clarity on how they could use Stockfish under the terms of the GPLv3, but the developer couldn't give them an alternate Stockfish license.
Of course, if ChessBase was acting in good faith it matters for the legal proceedings.
They can simply wire a bill (Score:1)
Google vs Oracle (Score:2)
I see a lot of people claiming there's no damages because Stockfish is free. But Google vs Oracle was also over code available for free. So there's a lot more to it than that.