Let's say a NAS company (WD?) takes the linux + zfs and build a NAS incorporate all the zfs features.
Who will/can/should file a lawsuit against them and on what probable cause?
Would/should EFF do it? Why?
A copyright holder for the linux kernel, on the grounds that they are distributing an unlicensed derivative work thereof (there would be no need to show damages, there are statutory damages; it's definitely unlicensed, the part that's not clear is whether it's a derivative work). It's not really in the EFF's wheelhouse; mjg59 (who holds at least some kernel copyrights) claimed to be talking to the software freedom law center about his options. I'm unsure why he'd regard zfs.ko as more problematic than nvidia.ko (I mean fundamentally end users have the access they need to fix bugs in the ZFS source, the CDDL is basically the same as the GPL, whereas end users cannot fix bugs in the NVidia video drivers, not in some theoretical legal sense but in actual practice), and if the legal theory is correct then it surely applies equally well to both, but he's the one with standing to sue so it's his call. IANAL.
That's one of the attempted justifications anyway. So what's more "audacious" here is Ubuntu distributing zfs.ko included in the initial install, and not requiring a dkms-like setup.
There's disagreement, even among core kernel developers, about whether nvidia's binary kernel module is OK. The fact that they've gotten away with it for a long time doesn't mean that it's OK, just that it's somewhere between hard and impossible to enforce copyleft (for various reasons worth of a separate post). ref: https://lkml.org/lkml/2012/8/1/411
My ReadyNAS has been a ROCK over the last 11(!!!) years and up until recently was still getting updates. They are a market leader anymore but damn, color me impressed with the level of commitment to updates over the years.
Not exactly a company on the size of WD or similar, though.
Just like a patent troll can hold a company hostage with a patent, can a "copyleft" troll / lawyers hold a company and users hostage with copyleft lawsuit?
If the zfs + linux kernel NAS products become wildly popular, can a lawyer + a kernel src copyright holder sent letter to NAS company + its customers and demand $500K or $1-10K per users to ask them to pay up?