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Judge Issues Tentative Ruling in Favor of SFC
Hearing today at 10am PST will consider whether Vizio has a duty to provide SFC with Source Code
December 4, 2025
Today, in the Superior Court of California in Orange County, Judge Sandy N. Leal will consider Software Freedom Conservancy's motion for summary adjudication in the Vizio case. The tentative ruling, issued this morning, rules in favor of SFC that Vizio has a duty to provide SFC with the complete and corresponding copylefted source code to the TV it purchased. Tentative rulings are not final; they are issued by the court to indicate how the judge is leaning on the issue, so that oral arguments at the hearing are most effective. The hearing on this issue will take place today, at 10am Pacific time. Information on how to attend is below.
The tentative ruling grants SFC's motion on the issue that a direct contract was made between SFC and Vizio when SFC's systems administrator, Paul Visscher, requested the source code to a TV that SFC has purchased. This contract obligated Vizio to provide SFC the complete and corresponding source code. Other alternative grounds for this duty arising were also raised by SFC in its filing seeking to recognize SFC as a third-party beneficiary. These were tentatively rejected by the court, primarily on procedural grounds.
Today lawyers for Vizio and SFC will argue the motion before the judge. Spectators can attend in person at 700 W Civic Center Dr, Santa Ana, CA 92701 or virtually via "Zoom for Government", which is accessible by browser. Zoom for Government has proprietary terms, but those terms are generally less-onerous than standard Zoom. Also note that virtual attendees are generally required by Judge Leal to turn on their cameras initially to identify themselves to attend. The hearing will start at 10:00 am Pacific time but there are likely other cases that will be heard before SFC's. In the tentative ruling, SFC's case is listed as number 11.
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