Splunk battles Cribl in lawsuit over license violation terms

TLDR:

• Splunk and Cribl are in a lawsuit over alleged violations of enterprise license terms.
• The dispute revolves around accusations of copyright infringement and patent violations.

The ongoing Splunk-Cribl lawsuit involves allegations of Cribl violating Splunk’s enterprise license terms. The case, which has been brewing since October 2022, centers around Splunk’s claims that Cribl, led by CEO Clint Sharp, has unlawfully used Splunk source code and confidential materials, infringing upon copyrights and patents. A dramatic twist in the case revealed that Cribl had been downloading trial versions of Splunk Enterprise despite holding a corporate license, potentially undermining the terms of use. Clint Sharp has denied the allegations, stating that the disputed intellectual property was based on code previously shared under an Apache license. However, the legal community and tech industry are closely watching the proceedings as the case could set precedents for interpreting and enforcing enterprise software licenses and intellectual property rights.