OSD compliant shareware

[Humphreys, Noel]

>> > Okay. But my point was that the copyright holder can grant
>> > portions of his rights under copyright without obtaining
>> > the signature of the recipient(s), while usage rights require
>> > a contract.
> > 
>> Do you think the GPL creates a contract?

>No, I don't. I think it is a mechanism by which the
copyright holder grants a portion of his rights under
copyright law to anyone at all, but only under certain
conditions. Such grant does not require a contract.

>By exercising such rights as are granted under the GPL,
anyone other than the copyright holder accepts the
defined conditions, and is bound by in exercising
those rights.

Signatures are not always necessary for formation of contracts.  Software license arrangements fit comfortably within normal contract analysis patterns, and courts treat them that way.  It's a mistake to think courts would not treat the GPL and other open-source licenses as contracts.

TINLA.  You are not my client.  I am posting merely to keep the conversation moving.



Noel D. Humphreys
Senior Counsel
Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld L.L.P.
voice - 212.872.1016
fax - 212.872.1002
590 Madison Avenue
New York, New York 10022
nhumphreys at akingump.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Samuel Reynolds [mailto:samuel_reynolds at csgsystems.com]
Sent: Wednesday, November 14, 2001 2:03 PM
To: license-discuss at opensource.org
Subject: RE: OSD compliant shareware


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Forrest J Cavalier III [mailto:forrest at mibsoftware.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, November 14, 2001 11:52 AM
> Subject: RE: OSD compliant shareware
> 
> 
> > Okay. But my point was that the copyright holder can grant
> > portions of his rights under copyright without obtaining
> > the signature of the recipient(s), while usage rights require
> > a contract.
> > 
> 
> Do you think the GPL creates a contract?

No, I don't. I think it is a mechanism by which the
copyright holder grants a portion of his rights under
copyright law to anyone at all, but only under certain
conditions. Such grant does not require a contract.

By exercising such rights as are granted under the GPL,
anyone other than the copyright holder accepts the
defined conditions, and is bound by in exercising
those rights.

(As always: IANAL, TINLA, IMHO, etc.)

- Sam

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