Question regarding a new local license approach

Forrest J. Cavalier III mibsoft at mibsoftware.com
Fri Mar 11 19:28:24 UTC 2005


Bjorn Reese wrote:

> Wouldn't it be possible to make conditional terms depending on
> which jurisdiction the licensee is under? 

OK.  How many jurisdictions is that?  See the problem now?

Are the universally recognized benefits of Linux is the
immunization against any local court invalidating the GPL v2?

I'm not saying that a court is ever empowered to decide a case
based on anything but statute and case law. I'm thinking
that there will be enough legal scholars willing and able
to defend the GPL against invalidation everytime it comes
up, in any jurisdiction, even if the defendent doesn't
have deep pockets.

Any counter opinions to that thought?

The GPL is universal because it is based on copyright law
enshrined in Berne.  It is my understanding that if you
don't sign with Berne, then your citizens won't be able to
get any copyright protection when they publish outside your own
country.  That's a very big stick.

I wonder what other FOSS licenses would get the kind of legal
backing the GPL would.  They aren't as well studied, and the
implications are not as severe as losing the ability to
use Linux in your country.





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