Re: Draft Summary: MPL is not DFSG free
* Andreas Barth <aba@not.so.argh.org> [040613 13:16]:
> Well, it really depends on the legal system you are in. What you told
> seems to be true for the US. However, for example in Germany (and in
> the other countries using Roman Right) of course the GPL and the MPL
> are contracts. No doubt about that. As even a absolute gift is a
> contract, of course a free license is a contract.
Well, in Germany they are not "contracts" but "Verträge". This is
normaly translated with "contracts", but has quite some differences.
So i do not think the German example is a quite good reason to avoid
calling it so. (Similar problems with "copyright" or "free speach",
which are most of the time used when translating "Urheberschutz" and
"Meinungsfreiheit", though sometimes one can stumble over the difference
of concepts and better translate it by "protection of creatorship" and
"freedom of opinion", or something similar.)
> > Not true at all. The GPL, for example, is not a valid contract.
> > Neither is the MIT/X11 license.
>
> Please abstract from your own legal system. In some legal systems, the
> GPL or the MIT/X11 license is a contract, in others not.
Only in the sense that the German system has a contract as most basic
operation of law, while other system (especially those where the word
contract is actually used) have a contract as relatively high contruct
and distinguish between contracts and non-contracts. Question to the
German lawyers: Is there actually something valid that is not a contract
and how many contract were again involved in a simple buying of an item
in a shop. About 7?
> > Indeed, they aren't contracts. Agreement is no more necessary to them
> > than if I were to hand you a sandwich.
>
> Well, handing a sandwich means agreement that you want to give and I
> want to receive the sandwich, and this forms a valid contract here.
> (More technically, such a contract is void if it is not drawn up
> before a notary; however, this voidness goes away if I really receive
> the sandwich.)
Is this only one contract, or are there also several involved?
(I'd guess at least two as both "Eigentum" and "Besitz" of the sandwich
change)
Hochachtungsvoll,
Bernhard R. Link
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