Approval Requested for AFL 1.2 and OSL 1.1

Lawrence E. Rosen lrosen at rosenlaw.com
Wed Nov 6 21:52:04 UTC 2002


> From: Henry Pijffers [mailto:henry.pijffers at saxnot.com] 
> How good do you think it is for us Europeans and other non-US 
> residents?
> 
> And on a sidenote, I don't like licenses that designate a specific 
> court of law. I ain't gonna go to the US of A to defend my rights.

Under the OSL, if you are the Licensor you determine the jurisdiction.
It's your software after all.  So if you write and license your software
in Europe to customers anywhere, you can defend your rights in Europe
under European contract law.  

If you are the licensee, you can demand your rights in a jurisdiction
where the licensor resides or has its primary business.  So if you want
to sue a big US company for licensing software to you over the Internet
while you were in your home in Paris, and big US company has registered
to do business in Paris, you can sue big US company in Paris.  

Almost every license on the OSI approved list specifies a US
jurisdiction.  The OSL is specifically intended to be country neutral in
that respect.  If it isn't, we should make it so.  What changes do you
suggest?

/Larry Rosen

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