Possible precedent: FSF supports open source developers in AGPL litigation

The Free Software Foundation (FSF) has issued a statement in the legal dispute between the database company Neo4j and John Mark Suhys, the developer of the Neo4j fork Open Native Graph Database (ONgDB). The lawsuit is about the legality of modifications to the GNU Affero General Public License (AGPLv3) by Neo4j. As reported by IT trade service The Register, the FSF's statement supports Suhys' efforts to overturn a previous court ruling in the case that allowed modifications to the AGPLv3.

FSF accuses Neo4j of license abuse

According to FSF Director Zoë Kooyman, the FSF wants Neo4j to remedy the misuse of AGPLv3. The Software Freedom Conservancy had previously tried unsuccessfully to submit a statement to the Court of Appeal. The interest group was also involved in the lawsuit against AVM regarding the Fritzbox firmware. Kooyman believes the FSF "is now compelled to intervene again to correct the intentions of the GNU licenses and ensure the protection of software freedoms." In November 2023, the FSF issued a cease-and-desist letter to Neo4j demanding that all references to AGPLv3 be removed from the code.

The background to the current lawsuit is the decision of a Californian district court in favor of Neo4j in 2021. The company had previously filed a trademark and copyright lawsuit against PureThink, a company founded by Suhy, because he offered a Neo4j fork with ONgDB. According to the plaintiff, Suhy had violated the license terms of the graph database and caused sales losses of several million US dollars.

According to The Register, Suhy developed ONgDB based on Neo4j Enterprise Edition 3.4, which was available under two licenses. On the one hand, the company published its database under both the commercial Neo4j Sweden Software License (NLLS) and the AGPLv3. Version 3.5 distributed Neo4j only under the NLLS. In terms of content, this is the open license with an addition that prohibits resale and paid support offers.

Court of Appeal could set a precedent

Although modifications to the license are permitted, the AGPLv3 also allows other developers to remove text passages if they restrict the original license. This was the approach taken by Suhy, who used code from Neo4j 3.5 when updating ONgDB and offered his fork under the open source license. In order for restrictions to be permanent, software providers must transfer the changes to a new license that is distinct from AGPLv3. However, because the NLLS is largely identical to the AGPLv3, apart from the name and the addition, it was disputed whether the modifications were sufficient to form a new license. The Californian district judge found that the requirements were met.

If the appeal proceedings confirm the previous ruling, the court would set a precedent that restricts the AGPLv3 and other open source licenses. Because it would then no longer be legally possible for developers to reverse restrictions in AGPLv3, the license would no longer ensure that free software remains free in the long term.

(sfe)