EULA and Modifed BSD

[Chris Travers]

On Dec 10, 2007 8:56 AM, Russ Nelson <nelson at crynwr.com> wrote:

>
>
> You *do* need to make sure that a contract is formed in order to
> disclaim warranty.  (As an aside, the GPL isn't a contract, so how can
> it effectively disclaim warranty?)


IANALE.

First, I think that the GPL *is* a contract.  Note the discussion of the GPL
v3 second discussion draft's wording change from "Not a Contract" to
"Acceptance Not Required for Having Copies."

However, otherwise I agree with John Cowan.  The only possibly contractual
terms here have to do with representation of the product and the author's
positioning of it.  One is not asked to give up warranty rights by accepting
the contract, but only preserve the author's representation that the
software may not be fit for any particular use or merchantability and
therefore no warranties are made :-).

(i.e. if I sell a crescent wrench as a hammer, I make certain
representations about potential uses of the wrench and I might have to issue
a refund since it may not meet accepted expectations.  If I sell it as a
hunk of scrap metal, then it doesn't even have to work as a wrench.  These
implied warranties are *all about* representations made about a product.  So
this is only about truth in labeling.)


Best Wishes,
Chris Travers
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