From ilug-admin@linux.ie Mon Oct 7 12:06:36 2002 Return-Path: Delivered-To: zzzz@localhost.spamassassin.taint.org Received: from localhost (jalapeno [127.0.0.1]) by spamassassin.taint.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 328EA16F95 for ; Mon, 7 Oct 2002 12:04:55 +0100 (IST) Received: from jalapeno [127.0.0.1] by localhost with IMAP (fetchmail-5.9.0) for zzzz@localhost (single-drop); Mon, 07 Oct 2002 12:04:55 +0100 (IST) Received: from lugh.tuatha.org (postfix@lugh.tuatha.org [194.125.145.45]) by dogma.slashnull.org (8.11.6/8.11.6) with ESMTP id g978gRK24558 for ; Mon, 7 Oct 2002 09:42:27 +0100 Received: from lugh.tuatha.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by lugh.tuatha.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7CC5534215; Mon, 7 Oct 2002 09:43:10 +0100 (IST) Delivered-To: linux.ie-ilug@localhost Received: from nologic.org (unknown [217.114.163.124]) by lugh.tuatha.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 8E822340D5 for ; Mon, 7 Oct 2002 09:42:29 +0100 (IST) Received: (qmail 29172 invoked from network); 7 Oct 2002 08:43:11 -0000 Received: from localhost (HELO nologic.org) (127.0.0.1) by 0 with SMTP; 7 Oct 2002 08:43:11 -0000 Received: from cacher2-ext.wise.edt.ericsson.se ([194.237.142.13]) (proxying for 159.107.166.28) (SquirrelMail authenticated user cj@nologic.org) by mail.nologic.org with HTTP; Mon, 7 Oct 2002 09:43:11 +0100 (BST) Message-Id: <35767.194.237.142.13.1033980191.squirrel@mail.nologic.org> Subject: Re: [ILUG] Interesting article on free software licences From: "Ciaran Johnston" To: In-Reply-To: <20021007101909.A16074@wanadoo.fr> References: <20021007101909.A16074@wanadoo.fr> X-Priority: 3 Importance: Normal X-Msmail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: SquirrelMail (version 1.2.5) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-15 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Sender: ilug-admin@linux.ie Errors-To: ilug-admin@linux.ie X-Beenthere: ilug@linux.ie X-Mailman-Version: 2.0.11 Precedence: bulk List-Help: List-Post: List-Subscribe: , List-Id: Irish Linux Users' Group List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: X-Original-Date: Mon, 7 Oct 2002 09:43:11 +0100 (BST) Date: Mon, 7 Oct 2002 09:43:11 +0100 (BST) David Neary said: > > For the francophones among you, this article is a summary of the > reasons why most free software licences (and the GPL in > particular) are not valid in France. > > http://www.linuxfrench.net/article.php3?id_article=1043 > > Google translation (hard to read most of the time, but good > enough to pick up the gist) > > http://makeashorterlink.com/?U26B52602 > > In brief, in an international contract, when mentioning copyright, you > must mention under which jurisdiction's laws the copyright > is applied. French law requires the licence to be available in > French (the GPL isn't). And French law requires that for a > contract to be valid, it must not breach existing law. Also under > French law, the copyright holder automatically retains the right > to change the licence, which means that French law is in conflict > with the GPL, which requires authorisation from all authors > before a licence change is allowed. > > Also there's some stuff about French consumer law forbidding sale > without guarantee of anything, so software delivered as-is > breaches consumer law in France. But I didn't really follow that. My French is a bit iffy these days, but if this is true, does it not also nullify Microsoft, Adobe and WinZip licences amongst most others? These all claim no liability, no guarantees (M$ say delivered "with all faults", so at least they are honest). /Ciaran. -- Irish Linux Users' Group: ilug@linux.ie http://www.linux.ie/mailman/listinfo/ilug for (un)subscription information. List maintainer: listmaster@linux.ie