Yearslong fight over users’ right to tweak smart TV software heads to trial

For years, owners of Vizio smart TVs have had little control over the software running on their sets—software that can track viewing habits, push ads, and generally shape the experience of using the device.

The Software Freedom Conservancy (SFC), a US nonprofit that promotes and provides legal support for free and open source software projects, isn’t happy about that—so much so that it has spent eight years trying to force the release of the complete source code for Vizio’s Linux-based smart TV operating system.

Now, after numerous delays since the SFC filed suit in 2021, a California jury will decide in August whether Vizio must provide that code in executable form to SFC and any Vizio TV owner who wants it.

The outcome could reverberate across the industry. Because many of today’s popular smart TV operating systems are Linux-based, the case may help determine how much control many owners have over their sets. Access to the full code would allow users to make meaningful changes to how their TVs work, including limiting ads or deactivating automatic content recognition.

Ahead of the trial, we spoke with an SFC executive about why it’s suing Vizio and what it hopes the case will accomplish.

Vizio and its parent company, Walmart, did not respond to multiple requests for comment. We reviewed filings from Vizio to understand why it doesn’t think the GNU’s General Public License (GPL) and its “Lesser” version (LGPL) require it to share the source code for Vizio OS (formerly Smart Cast).

Software Freedom Conservancy sues Vizio

The Software Freedom Conservancy argues it has the right to Vizio OS’s source code because it owns several Vizio TVs and because the operating system is based on Ubuntu, a Linux distribution. (SFC employees bought seven Vizio TVs from 2018 to 2021 after getting complaints about Vizio not sharing its TVs’ source code, according to the complaint.) In general, the Linux kernel is provided under the terms of GPLv2, as noted by kernel.org, which is run by the Linux Kernel Organization.

SFC’s lawsuit alleges that Vizio breached GPLv2 and LGPLv2.1 by failing to make available the complete source code for Vizio OS. The case is currently in the Orange County Superior Court of the State of California. The lawsuit targets Vizio specifically, but the impact could extend to other Linux-based smart TV OSes such as LG’s webOS, Samsung’s Tizen, and Roku’s Roku OS.

“We expect all companies who distribute Linux and other software using right-to-repair agreements like the GPL in their products would comply with these agreements,” Denver Gingerich, the director of compliance at SFC, told Ars.

SFC sued Vizio specifically because the group received numerous reports from concerned users about the company’s TVs, Gingerich said. Vizio has shared some of its operating system’s source code, but SFC claims that code does “not include all files and scripts that would permit the code to be compiled into an executable form,” according to its amended complaint from 2024 (PDF).

“As a nonprofit charity with limited resources, we sadly cannot solve every violation of the GPL agreement, but we do work hard to solve those that are important to a wide variety of users, and the popularity of Vizio TVs suggested to us that resolving this case would be especially worth the effort,” Gingerich said.

The terms of GPLv2 say that “[f]or an executable work, complete source code means all the source code for all modules it contains, plus any associated interface definition files, plus the scripts used to control compilation and installation of the executable.”

FSF says there’s “no reason” for code to be withheld

Legal filings from both Vizio and SFC frame the Freedom Software Foundation (FSF) as the authority on the GPLs in question, as it’s the license steward and publisher of GNU licenses, including GPLv2 and LGPLv2.1.

FSF’s executive director, Zoë Kooyman, was deposed in the case in May 2025. When asked about the nonprofit’s stance, she said via email that the FSF supports SFC’s efforts and believes that “users should be free to enforce their right to source code under the GNU GPL licenses through any available legal mechanism.”

Vizio OS is believed to include at least two versions of the Linux kernel that are subject to GPLv2. The first appears to be tied to the Ubuntu distribution in the OS’s user interface and streaming platform, and the second seems to be tied to “a custom version supplied by VIZIO’s chip vendor for the lower-level operating system,” according to SFC’s amended complaint from 2024 (PDF).

In her email to Ars, Kooyman said:

In the definition of software freedom, which the FSF maintains, we explain the value of the four essential freedoms (run, study, modify, share). The definition clearly explains that access to the source code is a precondition for software freedom. Programs licensed under the GNU GPL can be assumed to have chosen this license to ensure users have these four essential freedoms, as *that is what the license was specifically designed to do*. There is no reason why these core requirements for software to be free would not need to be upheld.

Vizio OS also uses numerous other programs subject to the GPLv2, including BusyBox, dnsmasq, GNU Bash, GNU Tar, and SELinux. Other parts of Vizio OS, including DirectFB, FFmpeg, GNU C Library, SeLinux, and Systemd, are subject to the Lesser General Public License version 2.1 (LGPLv2.1).

Both GPLv2 and LGPLv2.1 are copyleft licenses, meaning that they grant “permission to freely use, modify, and redistribute the covered intellectual property—but only if the original license remains intact, both for the original project and for any modifications to the original project anyone might make,” as Ars alum Jim Salter explained.

Critical to SFC and Vizio’s dispute, the actual text of GPLv2 reads:

Our General Public Licenses are designed to make sure that you have the freedom to distribute copies of free software (and charge for this service if you wish), that you receive source code or can get it if you want it, that you can change the software or use pieces of it in new free programs; and that you know you can do these things.

LGPLv2.1 uses similar language.

SFC expects a ruling within three to six months of the conclusion of the trial, which is currently scheduled for August 10.

Vizio fights back

Absent a response from Vizio and Walmart, Vizio’s legal filings provide insight into the company’s defense.

In 2023, Vizio filed a motion for summary adjudication (PDF) seeking to avoid a trial (a judge denied the motion later that year (PDF). In the motion, Vizio argued that “SFC is not an intended third-party beneficiary to GPLv2 or LGPLv2.1 and, thus, doesn’t have the right to sue Vizio to enforce license terms.”

According to the litigation filing:

… nothing in the text of the GPLs suggests that third parties have the right to enforce alleged violations of the GPLs. Further, the FSF has made clear that it never intended third-party enforcement, stating publicly that ‘the copyright holders of the software are the ones who have the power to enforce the GPL’… and that ‘[i]f you think you see a violation of the GNU GPL [or] LGPL . . . you should send a precise report to the copyright holders of the packages that are being wrongly distributed . . . [because] we cannot act on our own where we do not hold copyright.

Vizio also argued that GPL is a software license, not a contract, so the company has no contractual obligation to provide SFC with Vizio OS’s source code, even if SFC were considered a third-party beneficiary of GPLv2 LGPLv2.

Broader implications for smart TVs

Because many other companies use Linux-based OSes, SFC’s lawsuit could have broad implications for smart TVs and their owners. The case stands out because it asserts that individual end users have rights as third-party beneficiaries of GPL licenses. Ultimately, the SFC hopes that filing the lawsuit as a third-party beneficiary of the GPL “will clearly demonstrate the feasibility of this approach,” Gingerich said.

Access to Vizio OS’s source code could allow users to tweak the software to add features like accessibility tools and avoid frustrations like user tracking and ads. Walmart acquired Vizio in December 2024 and is likely to make changes to Vizio OS aimed at furthering its advertising business. The company already requires some new Vizio TVs to be set up with a Walmart account to access smart features.

And Vizio OS’s source code could also be critical for users if Vizio ever goes out of business.

“[Access to the source code] would also allow for the maintenance of older models that are no longer supported by VIZIO. In these ways, purchasers of VIZIO smart TVs can be confident that their devices would not suffer from software-induced obsolescence, planned or otherwise,” SFC’s complaint reads.

Ads and tracking have been Vizio’s primary focus for years. Walmart doesn’t share Vizio’s financials, but in the quarter before its acquisition, the company’s ad business made $115.8 million, and its hardware business lost $6.7 million. While many Vizio TV owners are unlikely to have the time or technical ability to reduce ads or user tracking—even with access to Vizio OS’s source code—making that code available could still threaten Vizio’s business and profitability.

SFC’s Gingerich thinks these fears are “overblown,” and he compared them to 1980s concerns that VCRs would kill the US film business. But with virtually every smart TV brand increasingly focusing on monetizing software through ads and tracking, the entire industry is likely to resist anything that could significantly curb ad revenue potential.

Another concern is that people tinkering with their TVs’ software could gain access to digital rights management (DRM) keys that Netflix and other streaming companies provide to OS operators for decrypting protected videos, Gingerich said, adding:

We have repeatedly and emphatically informed Vizio that we do not want these keys, and they are free to delete any such key material from the TV before modified versions of Linux or other open source programs are installed onto the TV. They have not responded to this reply of ours.

Despite these obstacles, the SFC is doubtful that its lawsuit will push Vizio or other smart TV OS operators to adopt a completely closed OS that would make customization and repairs impossible for users.

“Because of how valuable and flexible Linux and other open source programs are, it is generally not practical to change to a fully proprietary operating system,” Gingerich said.

One ruling already made

A judge has already ruled that Vizio is not required to provide source code in a way that guarantees a TV will continue working properly if a user reinstalls a modified version of the OS. In a December 2025 ruling (PDF), Judge Sandy Leal wrote, “Nothing in the language of the Agreements requires Vizio to allow modified source code to be reinstalled on its devices while ensuring the devices remain operable after the source code is modified.”