German Court Says GPL is Valid

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."

Comments

Re:And the Germans finally did something

[Syzar]

You're right, I'm bit drunk. Though I did not moderate grandparent, although I've got mod points.

Re:People who whine that the GPL "restricts rights

[johnnyb]

"Personally, my soul tells me what right and wrong are."

That's the problem. Some people's souls say nothing. Does that mean that nothing is right or wrong? The term "evil" signifies that it should be publicly obvious or at least discoverable when someone is doing an evil act. But if good/evil right/wrong are personal decisions, then really "fighting evil" makes no sense, it's actually just "fighting _them_" (whoever 'them' is - because for them, you are evil).

"Why do Christians believe that their book is better than the others or that their priests are better authorities than anyone else?"

That's simple - they believe that it was given by God. It's a historical, not really a theological/philosophical reason. They (or we, more specifically) believe that, for whatever reason, God started moving in the lives of people through Abraham and those after him. If this is a true historical happening, Christianity and its doctrines are in fact true. If this event did not occur, Christianity is a lie.

The question for Christians is simply, "did it happen" (also "does it happen" because we believe that God still works today). If the answer is "no", then we are fools. If it is "yes", then thank the Lord for working in us for whatever His strange reasons are.

Re:People who whine that the GPL "restricts rights

[johnnyb]

But why? What's the justification?

If atheism believes that your monitor is of the same substance/worth as a carbon lifeform, why would we have the statement about people but not about computer monitors?

Re:People who whine that the GPL "restricts rights

[johnnyb]

"And that, in general, is why im not religious."

I would hope that it would take more than a resolution of that issue to make you religious. Christianity is a historical, not a philosophical, proposition. It shouldn't be examined true/false based on whether you agree with the doctrine or if you like the teaching, it should only be examined with the question "did it happen?" The apostle Paul agrees wholeheartedly that if Jesus's resurrection is not part of history, then Christians should be pitied most of all people.

It's not about want you want or how you want morality to be handled, it's whether or not you believe in the historicity of the Bible. If you do, I can't imagine an argument for not serving God. If you do not believe in the historicity, I can't imagine an argument for why you would believe in God.

For most believers, trust in God comes about initially by experiencing God in our own lives. Sometimes other evidence comes up. For example, my son was healed from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (see here) after much prayer (confirmed by multiple echocardiograms).

Also, at variance with what you think, most Christians do not follow Christianity because they already agree with it, but rather because they have become convinced that Christ truly did die for our sins. This causes a change in belief, not a continuation of existing belief.

Re:People who whine that the GPL "restricts rights

[johnnyb]

"IMHO true atheism is very rare."

I agree. I have just never understood people who were both true atheists and moralists, which is why the post.

Re:People who whine that the GPL "restricts rights

[johnnyb]

"many atheists believe in free will."

I'm not sure that qualifies as total atheism or a moderate form of pantheism (what is will, where do you get it, and what gives "living things" will and not computer chips).