how NOT to form a contract? (second try)

[Bruce Dodson]

I have published software under an MIT-style License, and I don't know if
that makes a good contract or not, but I get the feeling that it's pretty
vague, and that I might be better off to treat it as a permission notice and
not enter into contracts with all my users.

This ties back to recent discussions of click-wrap contracts, pros and cons.
However, let's put that debate aside and think mostly about the GPL, where
there is no debate about whether or not it should be used as a contract.
(RMS says it should not.)

I have in the past presented my license terms on the "License Agreement"
page provided by my install builder.  This page has a note saying "if you do
not accept, you cannot install this software".  I have also seen the GPL
presented that way.  I still want to show the license terms during the
install, but I don't want the user to see this as a click-wrap contract.  To
make it clear that "I" do not agree to enter into a contract with the person
installing the software, I have been thinking about presenting it on a page
marked "Information" rather than "License Agreement", and prefacing the
license with a note like the following:


"This software is protected by copyright law and is made available
under the following license.  The copyright holders do not intend
for these license terms to form a contractual agreement."


Does that make sense?


Bruce (IANAL / YANML)
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