TYPO3 Association Board Meeting Protocol (16 September 2026)

tl;dr:

The “risk of being sued” cannot be allocated in advance: an author claimant decides whom to sue. Legal responsibility is determined afterward by the competent court. If the question is the liability, the precise allocation of liability depends on the applicable jurisdiction and the specific facts. The Board therefore cannot provide a universal legal answer, but it can clarify TYPO3’s internal process for receiving and handling such claims.

More Detailed Answer

Indeed, requesting the removal of the code is not a mandatory step before taking legal action. Depending on the applicable jurisdiction and the circumstances, a rights holder may send a formal cease-and-desist letter or initiate legal proceedings directly.

Anyone alleged to have contributed to, published, or distributed the infringing code could potentially receive a claim or be named in legal proceedings. Being sued does not, however, mean that the person will ultimately be held liable.

For TYPO3 Core, potential defendants could include the original contributor and the TYPO3 Association as the entity responsible for the official distribution of the Core. Other entities distributing the affected code could also potentially be targeted. Individual mergers or Board members would not ordinarily be personally liable merely because of their role, although liability may depend on their own conduct and the applicable law.

For extensions, the primary potential defendants would generally be the contributor, maintainer, or organization publishing the extension. The TYPO3 Extension Repository appears to fall within the category of open-source software development and sharing platforms, which are excluded from the definition of an “online content-sharing service provider” under Article 2(6) and recital 62 of Directive (EU) 2019/790. Consequently, the specific liability regime established by Article 17 should not apply to the Association in relation to extensions uploaded by third parties, without prejudice to any obligations or liability arising under other applicable laws.

Whether the TYPO3 Association could or would seek recovery from a contributor would depend entirely on the specific circumstances, including the contributor’s conduct, the legal basis for a claim, the harm suffered, and the proportionality of taking legal action. It would therefore not be appropriate to make a general statement in advance.

We are not lawyers, and even a qualified lawyer would be unable to provide a single exhaustive answer without knowing the specific circumstances, jurisdictions, parties involved, and applicable laws. What would be genuinely useful to the community, however, is to establish and clearly communicate a process for reporting and handling suspected copyright or licensing violations.