Arnoud Engelfriet wrote: > Brian Thomas Sniffen wrote: >> Humberto Massa <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: >> > Anyway, it depends on your jurisdiction. Here in Brasil, *every* >> > software license is a contract, and is ruled, aside from the >> > dispositions in Copyright Law (9.610/98) and Computer Programs Law >> > (9.609/98), to Contract Law and the Civil Code. >> >> So something as simple as the MIT/X11 license -- "I grant to you a >> license to make derivative works of this work, and to trade in them >> and it without restriction" is a contract? Gosh. > > Yes. It's a contract in most civil law countries actually. That's > because in civil law, the contract is the most elementary of > legal constructs. A favorite exercise is to ask first-year students > to count the number of contracts they enter into when they buy > a leaf of bread. > >> How can I enforce >> it against you? > > Since the contract does not give me obligations, you cannot > enforce anything. But I can enforce it against you if you > later say I am not licensed. I think that is the key point. In common-law countries, both sides must have obligations for it to be a 'contract' (one side makes the 'offer' and receives the 'consideration'). If only one side has obligations, it's not called a 'contract'; it's a 'gift', perhaps.
In common law countries we say "the license grant should not be a contract". In civil law countries, I'm not quite sure how to translate that. -- There are none so blind as those who will not see.
