Re: Contract and Tort Law and the GPL
On 5/12/05, Raul Miller <moth.debian@gmail.com> wrote:
> On 5/12/05, Michael K. Edwards <m.k.edwards@gmail.com> wrote:
> > Or he could consult a law book, of course. I don't bother with
> > citations to Nimmer on Copyright or Corbin on Contracts or whatever
> > except when I find them quoted in a court opinion, because I can't
> > just hand you a URL. But if you can find me a place in a major law
> > reference where it discusses a form of copyright license that is not
> > conveyed by contract (written, oral, or implied by conduct), I will
> > eat the page it's written on.
>
> False dillema.
>
> I do not believe that any of the references you're alluding to
> here claim that the law of torts does not apply in cases of
> copyright infringment. Instead they claim that the law of
> contracts does apply in cases of copyright infringement,
> and explain how in great depth.
Note that copyright infringement is in fact a tort created by statute.
And that's the only tort that you profess to be able to exhibit. And
that the law says (IANAL) that, if there is sufficient evidence of a
valid contract granting copyright license to the defendant with
respect to a given work, you must prove either conduct exceeding the
scope of the license or contract termination for material breach
before the court is permitted to consider your case under copyright
law. A court of fact which does otherwise is quite certain to be
overruled on appeal, as in Sun v. Microsoft.
Cheers,
- Michael
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