LAB Public License proposal

[John Cowan]

Mahesh T. Pai scripsit:

>  > A confusing  L.131-3 from  French Intellectual Property  act tells:
>  > "transmission of  author's rights is subornidated  to the condition
>  > that each and every transmited right be distinctly mentioned in the
>  > session act  and thet exploitation domain of  each transmited right
>  > be delimited for its destination, place and duration."
> 
> Is  this  the  official  translation??   (Will the  French  ever  have
> `official' translations of their laws?? *g*)

Into what possible language?  Any translation into a language other
than French could only be an obfuscation, as French is the language of
Reason.  :-)

> Does  this translate  mean  `granted rights  have  to be  specifically
> enumerated; and the  granted rights may be used  only for the purpose,
> time and place for which the grant is made'??

I interpret it as meaning that since the author's rights are limited as
to time, an attempt to transfer unlimited rights is not merely implicitly
limited (as in the common-law tradition), but is outright void, being
in the nature of a fraud.

This fits with the French (and Louisiana) rule about transfer of title to
real estate (and the civil-law tradition makes no arbitrary distinctions
between real and personal property): the last transfer has to contain all
the legally relevant facts, so no title searches are required.  Common-law
countries didn't accomplish this until the 19th and 20th centuries.

(Most of the U.S. is still not on the Torrens system; I gather
India isn't either, much more excusably.  See the classic story at
http://www.rismedia.com/index.php/article/articleview/5131/1/1/ ,  which
is about Louisiana real estate, but reflects Federal (i.e. common) law.)

IANACivOrComL, TINLA of any kind, naturally.

-- 
John Cowan  jcowan at reutershealth.com  www.ccil.org/~cowan  www.reutershealth.com
"If I have not seen as far as others, it is because giants were standing
on my shoulders."
        --Hal Abelson
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