Violations of the Linux licence are potential violations of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act according to a white paper from Wasabi Systems.

Wasabi, an embedded operating systems provider acknowledges the power held within the Linux operating system. However the law relating to the GPL license can be complex.

Wasabi software itself has utilises open source software including those covered by the GPL.

The problem arises where companies do not disclose ownership of intellectual property to their shareholders. Doing so is a requirement of Sarbanes-Oxley.

A violation of the GPL means that the company does not have the right to use the software. Should they continue they are violating federal law if they claim that they do have a right.

The paper is the first in a series looking at legal risks and misconceptions inherent in the GNU general public licence (GPL).

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