Re: English licenses on non English speaking countries

["Marcelo E. Magallon" <mmagallo@efis.ucr.ac.cr>]

Hi Jesus,

On Tue, Aug 31, 1999 at 07:06:55PM +0200, Jesus M. Gonzalez-Barahona wrote:

> 	The main problem here (in my opinion) is that we cannot
> distribute a program under a new license. Only the author can. And
> translating a license is making a new license...

Our current problem is a licence for software we have written.  We don't
want to change anyone's license, not now nor ever.  We are interested in
what happens if someone decides to "ignore" the license here.

> 	So, we better find a way to enforce the English-version of the 
> license, perhaps with an acompanying version in other languages, just
> for user information, and without legal value.

Exactly my suggestion.

> 	So, in my opinion (I'm not a lawyer, anyway), there is no
> problem at all. This is the most common opinion I've heard of.

Common sense and lawyers don't get along at all.  Common opinion doesn't
either.  Common usage, sometimes.

> 	WRT the specific case of a license not written in Spanish
> being enforceable in Spain, I guess that's only applicable to items
> directed to end-users, and sold in Spain. I mean, that when you (as a
> regular consumer) buy an item in Spain, any terms related to the
> transaction must be available in Spanish (or any other of the official
> languages where applicable). That's for sure not applicable to usual
> contracts between companies (otherwise, European-level commerce, for
> instance, would be almost impossible). I guess it is also not
> applicable to licenses of software packages, but I'm not sure of it. 

I've heard exactly the oppossite.  Namely, that if you live in Spain and
make a contract with a British company, the agreement must be translated to
Spanish.  But that's just rumours and not facts.

In a purshase you stablish a contractual relationship, that's why you can
sue if the item is not in good condition, or causes harm for example --
remember the "coffee too hot" incident a few years ago (McDonald's vs Some
Lady).  Even if there's no money involved I don't see why it has to be
different.  And I don't see why it has to be different for software
licenses.  You are giving up "rights" when you accept a license.  You should
be in a position where you know what you are giving up.

> 	We in Spain are also looking for lawyers who can help us in
> these directions, but it is being difficult :-( Please, let us know of
> any progress you can make... (BTW, the same to anyone in an EU
> country, since we should have similar legislation at this respect).

IP lawyers are expensive.  And there's a handful of them here.

Thanks,


	Marcelo