Question regarding a new local license approach

[Walter van Holst]

On Fri, 11 Mar 2005 15:58:44 +0000, Alex Bligh <alex at alex.org.uk> wrote:
> > Would you consider the AFL/OSL's provision that applicable law and
> > venue are the licensors, to be "jurisdiction-specific" in this sense?
> 
> No. Quite the opposite.

Not to rain on your parade, but provisions regarding applicable law
and venue are not under all circumstances enforcable in all
jurisdictions. In many EU-jurisdictions you cannot have a provision on
those subjects in agreements with consumers. You have similar problems
when granting every right under the sun on a copyrighted work, because
especially in France and Germany several so-called peronality rights
cannot be licensed or transferred at all.

Having said that, it doesn't mean that using licenses from a foreign
law system is something you should never do. Just be aware that the
license you are using may not mean what you think it means in a
'alien' environment up to clauses being unenforcable. Having a
thorough preamble explaining what you are trying to achieve in a
license, like the GPL has, can be mightily helpful, especially in
jurisdictions where judges are allowed to interpret contracts in their
own way.

Regards,

 Walter