Legal Bounds of Licensing...

[John Cowan]

V. Alex Brennen scripsit:

> I would think that since a license is a contract, I can
> set any conditions I wish.  However, I have been told by
> other parties that this is not the case.  Thanks for any
> help in clearing this up...

Open Source licenses (so far) are not contracts: they are conditional
grants of certain rights from the copyright holder to members of the
public, so they are limited to matters of copying, performing,
distributing, modifying, and similar copyright rights.

Standard shrink-wrap licenses do purport to be contracts, and can
impose any conditions save those which are against public policy
(they can't, for example, require the user to marry, or to refrain
from marrying, or to commit a crime, or to do the impossible).
However, the enforceability of shrink-wrap licenses is very shaky:
the few court cases generally have been decided in favor of the
consumer.

-- 
John Cowan                                   cowan at ccil.org
       I am a member of a civilization. --David Brin