Re: Bug#317359: kde: ..3'rd "Help"->"About $KDE-app" tab calls th e GPL "License Agreement", ie; a contract.

["Michael K. Edwards" <m.k.edwards@gmail.com>]

Once more unto the breach, so to speak.

I wrote:
> But if a Linux distro qualifies as a "consumer
> good", other laws may apply -- conspicuously California's Song-Beverly
> Consumer Warranty Act (
> http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cacodes/civ/1792-1795.7.html ).  I am by
> no means convinced that the GPL (or any other commonly used open
> source license) meets the standard of "as is" / "with all faults"
> notice prescribed in this Act.

Note that although the GPL does appear at first glance to have the
necessary "AS IS" business in it, it has three potentially fatal
defects:  "BECAUSE THE PROGRAM IS LICENSED FREE OF CHARGE" (hardly
true when the FSF condones Red Hat's trademark games), the absence of
language stating that the licensee waives statutory indemnity
provisions, and the lack of any obligation on the "retailer" to obtain
assent to the no-warranty terms from end users.  Song-Beverly doesn't
contemplate warranty disclaimers from manufacturer to retailer, and
explicitly gives the retailer a right of indemnity against the
manufacturer for causes arising out of a breach of implied warranty of
merchantability.

And if you think about it, that's actually wise law.  If a disclaimer
of implied warranty isn't made quite conspicuous to the end user, the
manufacturer shouldn't be permitted to stick the retailer with the
bill for damages consequential to negligence in the design and
implementation of the product.  Not, at least, without a full-on
executed contract between manufacturer and retailer that waives
statutory indemnification requirements such as Song-Beverly's -- and
the retailer's general liability underwriter may have something to say
about that.

ObDebian:  this means that Debian and its associated legal entities,
individual DDs and maintainers, and upstream source code suppliers may
wind up in the position of indemnifying J. Random Debian Derivative
Who Sells CDs Retail against product liability claims such as the
"your LiveCD fried my G5 laptop" example I gave earlier.  Ouch.

Cheers,
- Michael
(IANAL, TINLA)