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German Court Says GPL is Valid

Posted by michael on from the im-namen-des-volkes dept.

Axel Metzger writes "The Munich District Court has ruled on May 19, 2004 that the main clauses of the GNU General Public License are valid under German copyright and contract law. This seems to be the first judgment worldwide proofing the validity of the most popular free software license. The ruling is a confirmation of the preliminary injunction of April 2, 2004. The new judgment gives on 20 pages the reasons for the ruling. It states explicitly that the terms of section 2, 3 and 4 of the GPL are valid under German copyright and contract law. Here is the German text of the judgment; an English translation will be available soon. The judgment comes at the right time to fight those (SCO and others) who challenge the legal validity of the GPL in Europe and elsewhere. The lawyer of the plaintiffs, Till Jaeger from Munich should be granted the Free Software Award."

3 of 327 comments (clear)

  1. Re:It's nice by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Actually our country NEVER took heed from European countries. We were founded to be different than Europe and I hope we never do things just because Europe things we should do it. Not sure why everybody thinks that Europe always knows better and that we should always follow what they do. What makes Europe so much wiser?

  2. Re:It's nice by Tolleman · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    Dude, George Bush is your president.

  3. Re:It's nice by Sergej · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    United States is a lost cause. No point in worrying about it now.