OT - GNU Contract Law Theory: ANTICIPATORY REPUDIATION

[Mahesh T. Pai]

Alexander Terekhov said on Tue, Aug 28, 2007 at 06:49:10PM +0200,:

> What is your point?
 > 
 > Anticipatory Repudiation (Breach)
 > 
 > 1. Anticipatory Repudiation is a definite and unequivocal
 > manifestation of unwillingness or inability to perform a material
 > executory portion of a contract in which both parties have material
 > obligations remaining to be performed

You need to recognise that `contracts' and `'licenses'' are not
mutually exclusive. Lawyers and common people (without a hidden
agenda) will not make such a claim - that contracts and licenses are
one and same. 

For law, most relationships are either based on contracts, or status.
But existence of several status based relationships depends on
existence of a valid contract. Employment of certain nature, marriage
under certain classes of personal law, (notably, Muslim), etc, where
the relationship is initiated on basis of a valid contract. But once
the contract is formed, the relationship between the parties is
governed by status.

In that sense, all software licenses are contracts.

Understood in the above context, a person who steals a CD containing
copyrighted software does not get any valid license by clicking "I
Agree" while installing the software, because the essentials of
contract formation do not exist.

And if you visit any law library, you will find books about "law of
damages" and "law of civil remedies". Both books will deal with both
kinds of relationships - the ones governed by contracts, and the ones
governed by status; and of course, those relationships which require a
contract to form a status.

I guess you should take a 24 hour break and re-read this again before
doing a bit more research.  Please hit the reply button only
afterwards. I am not casting aspersions you you knowledge, but
non-lawyers have a difficulty understanding these things, and even law
students need to be told this several times over before they even
begin to get a hang of the situation. (I ought to know, because I was
a teacher of law for a short time once).


-- 
 Mahesh T. Pai <<>> http://paivakil.blogspot.com/
Copying an idea is plagiarism. Copying many ideas
from many authors is RESEARCH.