Viofo Dash Cams Temporarily banned on Shopify

lufa6977 said:
Exactly. Who is liable is hard to say because we do not see the contracts. If Novatec included the offending software, was it at the brand seller's request? Or did Novatec provide three SDKs with instructions on how to 'hook' into the Novatec chip and tell the brand seller they need to watch out for licensing agreements? So, I know there are 4K/STARVIS II dashcams on the market now that does not use this SDK.

About two years ago, I managed to Google down into a website URL's looking for those Novatec docs. I actually found them, but they were all in Mandarin, so useless to me. I don't even recall the name of the company. I was really interested in reading them just to have a better understanding of the Novatec product line.
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I'm not a lawyer, but I'd say Novatek is responsible, as they provided the base for everyone else to build on. All the manufacturers, as far as I am aware, acted in good faith and built on the source Novatek gave them.
 
andrew.parker said:
The GPL v2 compliance nightmare is real. Most vendors take dual-licensed code (like YAFFS) from upstream SDKs without realizing they need either a commercial license or to open-source their entire stack. Hopefully Novatek or Viofo just coughs up the licensing fee to clear up these Shopify DMCA takedowns for retailers soon.
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It'd be Novatek, they'd need to release their underlying cardv source elements that all the others derive from, to comply with GPL.
 
Since it appears that Novatek violated the GPL for multiple different bits of software, not just one that is also available commercially, their only solution is to publish the source code, or re-write everything themselves (not likely).
But this does not absolve Viofo of liability since they are also distributing devices using GPL code, they would have to publish their source code as well. They won't be able to do that until Novatek publishes their source code first.
This is a bloody mess, but it is not the fault of the GPL, it is entirely Novatek's fault, and they must fix it, so that Viofo can fix it as well.
If you choose to use and distribute GPL licensed code, you agree to distribute your source code as well. This is a good thing. It expands the code available for everyone to use for free.
 
Seeing Novatek is Taiwanese and a de facto Chinese Company, good luck on a quick resolution. China has a very tattered past of respecting copyright holders. Vantrue, Viofo, etc are going to be stuck hammering it out with Novatek internally within China if the GPL claim isn't directly dropped against dashcam makers themselves. Aleph 1 will unlikely see any money fron Novatek, unless Chinese Government forces Novatek to make a payout.
 
jsmith said:
Seeing Novatek is Taiwanese and a de facto Chinese Company, good luck on a quick resolution. China has a very tattered past of respecting copyright holders. Vantrue, Viofo, etc are going to be stuck hammering it out with Novatek internally within China if the GPL claim isn't directly dropped against dashcam makers themselves. Aleph 1 will unlikely see any money fron Novatek, unless Chinese Government forces Novatek to make a payout.
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Taiwan is an entirely different country to China, and pretty much 90% semiconductors are made there. I don’t think Novatek acted in bad faith, they just were lazy with their implementation.

An injunction could be catastrophic for Novatek and their customers, which I am sure will be coming if they don’t comply soon.
 
eddd said:
Taiwan is an entirely different country to China, and pretty much 90% semiconductors are made there. I don’t think Novatek acted in bad faith, they just were lazy with their implementation.

An injunction could be catastrophic for Novatek and their customers, which I am sure will be coming if they don’t comply soon.
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Taiwain is not legally recognized as a separate country but by a select few nations. It's apart of China for all international intents and purposes.
 
eddd said:
Taiwan is an entirely different country to China, and pretty much 90% semiconductors are made there. I don’t think Novatek acted in bad faith, they just were lazy with their implementation.

An injunction could be catastrophic for Novatek and their customers, which I am sure will be coming if they don’t comply soon.
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Despite the U.S. interference in the Taiwan Strait, the South China Sea, and Taiwan...the U.S State Department has a One China policy and sees Taiwan as a possession of China. The United Nations under Ban Ki-moon has declared that Taiwan is a part of China. A number of Chinese that I know have stated that since Taiwan did not fight a war to free itself from China, Taiwan is a part of China. The Western press is very good at convincing people that Taiwan is not a part of China, when in fact, the opposite is true.

Taiwan operates with a lot of independence from China, but also a lot of import and export dependence with China. I don't recall the precise numbers, but about 10 years ago, I believe that about half of Taiwan exports went to China and about half of Taiwan imports came from China. Exports to the U.S were a very small number.

I doubt that China will have any influence on Novatek concerning this legal matter.
 
But in the old days Taiwan was "the " China in the UN, but was later replaced by mainland China.
I must admit if it was me being a Taiwanese i would have felt stabbed in the back if i was just ditched like that.

I do not see England - Sweden - Norway as sort of Denmark just CUZ well once we ruled them for long periods or a big chunk of them at least, No that is all areas lost for us, and i can not blame anyone but us Danes for that fact.
Just like i do not see Greenland as Denmark, regarding that up there i realize we have done things there bad, really bad and good, and in the process earned a lot and spent a lot of money.
So what ever the Greenlanders do in the future i just hope they do not flip us off, even if i must also admit they sort of earned that right too.
But once all their ice melt, we Danes will have to go somewhere, or live in big stacks on top of each other on the very little of the land that will be left here. CUZ then we will be a SUPER small country.
 
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