GPL lawsuit in Germany

João Miguel Neves joao at silvaneves.org
Thu Jan 24 22:38:08 UTC 2002


On Qui, 2002-01-24 at 22:17, Joerg Schilling wrote:
> He said, that to have a valid contract, there is a need that both
> parties aggree in the contract which is not the case for the GPL.
> So if the abuser tells you that he never aggreed in GPL and that
> he _knows_ that is is using th eprogram in an illegal way, this will
> help him in the lawsuit.
> 
This is a common misunderstanding. GPL is not a contract, it's a
copyright license. That means that unless the company accepted it they
couldn't modify your code (assuming that Germany has more or less the
same definition on copyright than the rest of the western world).

Please give a copy of Eben Moglen's "Enforcing the GPL" articles to your
lawyer (http://emoglen.law.columbia.edu/). Eben Moglen will, probably,
be very interested in the case. Contact him (FSF can help there) and try
to get him and your lawyer in touch.

> My questions:
> 
> -	Has there been ever a GPL lawsiut?
> 
AFAIK none that followed through.

> -	Is FSFeurope willing and able to help me and my lawyer?
> 
I cannot answer to this other than Eben Moglen will probably be glad to
help your lawyer. I know this can be arranged through FSF, but someone
more knowledgeable should be able to give you the details.

-- 
						Joao Miguel Neves
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