Re: Contracts and licenses
Arnoud Engelfriet wrote:
> Brian Thomas Sniffen wrote:
>> Humberto Massa <humberto.massa@almg.gov.br> writes:
>> > Anyway, it depends on your jurisdiction. Here in Brasil, *every*
>> > software license is a contract, and is ruled, aside from the
>> > dispositions in Copyright Law (9.610/98) and Computer Programs Law
>> > (9.609/98), to Contract Law and the Civil Code.
>>
>> So something as simple as the MIT/X11 license -- "I grant to you a
>> license to make derivative works of this work, and to trade in them
>> and it without restriction" is a contract? Gosh.
>
> Yes. It's a contract in most civil law countries actually. That's
> because in civil law, the contract is the most elementary of
> legal constructs. A favorite exercise is to ask first-year students
> to count the number of contracts they enter into when they buy
> a leaf of bread.
>
>> How can I enforce
>> it against you?
>
> Since the contract does not give me obligations, you cannot
> enforce anything. But I can enforce it against you if you
> later say I am not licensed.
I think that is the key point. In common-law countries, both sides must
have obligations for it to be a 'contract' (one side makes the 'offer' and
receives the 'consideration'). If only one side has obligations, it's not
called a 'contract'; it's a 'gift', perhaps.
In common law countries we say "the license grant should not be a contract".
In civil law countries, I'm not quite sure how to translate that.
--
There are none so blind as those who will not see.
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