...the world needs[*] a demonstration of its enforceability.

And, hey, this is copyright, not contract, law -- as soon as Progress ceased to comply with the GPL license, thus invoking its automatic revocation clause, they were (AFAICS) in *criminal* violation of the law.

And *I* fail to see how _that_ can be "silly and should be worked out without bothering [a judge]"...

From [link|http://www.fsf.org/press/mysql-affidavit.html|Eben Moglen's affidavit]:
[22]: The GPL is specifically designed to be a license for decentralized distribution, in which everyone can share programs and improvements with anyone else. This means that program code can cross national borders and otherwise propagate in uncontrolled ways. For this reason, the GPL makes special provision for dealing with the consequences of license violation. Under \ufffd4, any licensee who violates the GPL loses his right of distribution, until such time as that right is restored by affirmative act of the copyright holder.

[25]: ...I have secured compliance with the license in dozens of cases over the past decade, and have never had to resort to judicial measures of mandatory enforcement. Without the leverage provided by \ufffd4, however, parties would resort to repetitive partial compliance, ``capable of repetition but evading review,'' in language the Supreme Court has applied to a different sort of situation, substantially if not overwhelmingly complicating the task of securing reliable compliance with the license.

[38]: Under GPL \ufffd4, I conclude, Progress Software Corp. lost the right to distribute MySQL when it distributed NuSphere MySQL Advantage in a fashion that violated GPL.

[*]: From [link|http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/enforcing-gpl.html|his screed on enforceability FUD]
But perhaps we have succeeded too well. If I had used the courts to enforce the GPL years ago, Microsoft's whispering would now be falling on deaf ears. Just this month I have been working on a couple of moderately sticky situations. ``Look,'' I say, ``at how many people all over the world are pressuring me to enforce the GPL in court, just to prove I can. I really need to make an example of someone. Would you like to volunteer?''