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Suppose I wrote a Java library and published it under AGPL.

Now I suspect that company A uses it for server side processing in their internet services. If my understanding of AGPL is correct, this would allow any users of the internet services to request the source code.

Company A says they do not use my library. If this were a "classical" software where binaries are distributed, I could probably decompile it and find some evidence whether this is correct or not. But for server side use on the internet, there is no way to find out (unless they do something stupid like leaking stack traces to the user).

So do I have any means for enforcing the AGPL in such a case?

J Fabian Meier
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Enforcing the AGPL is just the same as enforcing any other copyright license - you bring a court case. At that point, both you and Company A would provide evidence and the court would make a decision. While that evidence may be easier for you to obtain in the case of distributed binaries, the mechanism is the same.

Philip Kendall
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    But is there any way at all for me to obtain evidence? I mean, I cannot get a search warrant for "suspecting" someone using my library. – J Fabian Meier Mar 04 '23 at 12:40
  • Whatever makes you "suspect" they're using your library is your evidence. – Philip Kendall Mar 04 '23 at 12:43
  • So what could be a way of (legally) obtaining evidence? – J Fabian Meier Mar 04 '23 at 12:47
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    I think that depends on exactly what your library does - for example, you can attempt to show that Company A's software has the same behaviour (or even bugs) as your library. If this is a hypothetical question, I'm not sure that there's much more than can be said. If this is an actual problem you're facing, you may need to hire an expert. – Philip Kendall Mar 04 '23 at 12:51