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I have written and still maintain some GPL-licensed code in my free time.
The software company I'm working for is in the process of merging with another and I was recently assigned to assist with one of the other company's projects.
Looking through the other company's (proprietary) codebase I have discovered they've been using my GPL-licenced code for years, literally thousands of lines lifted verbatim from my repos, including comments. The licencing and authorship info was removed.
I have informed my supervisor about this on Friday afternoon and there was quite a buzz about it, though mostly to the tune of "let's not make any rash judgements or accusations". Now I'm to have a meeting my boss's boss about it on Monday morning.
What should I do? What should I expect?
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>>1441938
Well, you should first ask yourself what you think the ideal result of this conversation will be.
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>>1441938
Secure some proof/evidence. Get a lawyer. Draft an agreement where you agree not to sue the company in exchange for them paying a one-time fee for using your code. Since you authored it, you'll totally free to sell copies of it under whatever licenses you want. This gets complicated if other people have made open source contributions to it, though.
Proof doesn't necessarily need to be source code. See if the compiled binaries you're distribution can be shown to include your code (non-mangled names/symbols, etc.).
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>>1441938
Please talk to a lawyer! Often, you can get a cheap or even free consultation. Please do this and get off 4chan.
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>>1441938
Go into the meeting and hand the boss some knee pads.
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>I have informed my supervisor about this
what a poor move
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enjoy getting fired because that's whats going to happen
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