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GPL May Not Work In German Legal System

Posted by timothy on from the well-the-german-law-forest-at-least dept.

erbse2 writes "It may be that the (L)GPL can not be (fully) enforced under German jurisdiction. This is at least the conclusion professor Gerald Spindler of the jurisprudential faculty of the University of Goettingen came to when he examines the Legal questions of the open source software (It's long, it's complex and it's in German and it's written by a professor, so don't expect to understand anything, if you are not a German lawyer). Heise News has the article in German, however, the fish may be with you. IANAL, however, as one can put some of the legal problems aside, most of the concerns mentioned in there should provoke at least some thought by brave men around RMS."

3 of 434 comments (clear)

  1. Hold It! by CaptainZapp · · Score: 1, Redundant
    I admit I didn't read it; or more precisely I read the first statement, which translates to The German Lobby Group for Commerical Software comisioned a study... to know that this really can't be relevant.

    It's like a study, which proves that smoking is good for you, comissioned by er! Philip Morris and RJ Reynolds.

    Nothing to see here, next!

    --
    ich bin der musikant

    mit taschenrechner in der hand

    kraftwerk

  2. What about MS EULAs then?? by jkrise · · Score: 0, Redundant

    "It's long, it's complex and it's in German and it's written by a professor, so don't expect to understand anything, if you are not a German lawyer "
    As if we understood shorter, crisper or clear MS EULAs for that matter. Or even the FAQs written for JoeServicePacks after every 'critical' alert.

    Early bird catches the worm. The rest get Service Packs.

    --
    If you keep throwing chairs, one day you'll break windows....
    1. Re:What about MS EULAs then?? by Anonym0us+Cow+Herd · · Score: 0, Redundant

      Early bird catches the worm. The rest get Service Packs.

      I thought only the early birds who ran Outlook got worms? Now I'm confused.

      I also didn't realize that getting a worm and getting a Service Pack were mutually exclusive. Maybe that points to the underlying motivation. If it ain't broke don't fix it. If you aren't getting worms, then you need a Service Pack to correct the situation.

      And you failed to mention anything about who gets the BSOD's?

      --
      The price of freedom is eternal litigation.