Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) and other Alternative License Models: A Comparative Analysis

505 Pages·2016·5.35 MB·English

by  Axel Metzger (eds.)

Ius Comparatum – Global Studies in Comparative Law
Axel Metzger E ditor
Free and Open
Source Software
(FOSS) and other
Alternative License
Models
A Comparative Analysis
Ius Comparatum – Global Studies
in Comparative Law
Volume 12
Series Editors
Katharina Boele-Woelki , University of Utrecht , The Netherlands
Diego P. Fernández Arroyo , Institut d’Études Politiques de Paris , Sciences Po
France
Founding Series Editors
Jürgen Basedow, Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private
Law, Germany
George Bermann, Columbia University School of Law, USA
Editorial Board
Bénédicte Fauvarque-Cosson, Université Panthéon-Assas, Paris 2, France
Giuseppe Franco Ferrari, Università Bocconi, Milan, Italy
Toshiyuki Kono, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan
Marek Safjan, Court of Justice of the European Union, Luxembourg
Jorge Sanchez Cordero, Mexican Center of Uniform Law, Mexico
Ulrich Sieber, Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law,
Germany
More information about this series at h ttp://www.springer.com/series/11943
Académie Internationale de Droit Comparé
International Academy of Comparative Law
Axel Metzger
Editor
Free and Open Source
Software (FOSS) and other
Alternative License Models
A Comparative Analysis
Editor
Axel Metzger
Faculty of Law
Humboldt University of Berlin , Germany
Copyright is retained by Lucie Guibault and Olivia Salamanca for Chapter 16
Copyright is retained by Pedro de Miguel Asensio for Chapter 21
ISSN 2214-6881 ISSN 2214-689X (electronic)
Ius Comparatum - Global Studies in Comparative Law
ISBN 978-3-319-21559-4 ISBN 978-3-319-21560-0 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-21560-0
Library of Congress Control Number: 2015952853
Springer Cham Heidelberg New York Dordrecht London
© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016
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Pref ace
This volume presents the output of a session held at the 19th International Congress
of Comparative Law in Vienna on July 24, 2014. The Congress is organised every
four years by the International Academy of Comparative Law. For the preparation
of a typical Congress session, the Academy invites a specialist on a given subject to
prepare a questionnaire which is then submitted to a group of national reporters
appointed by the Academy. It is then the task of the reporters to answer the ques-
tionnaire from their national perspective. Ideally, the general reporter receives the
national reports early enough to draw preliminary conclusions before the Congress.
The general reporter then presents these preliminary conclusions during the session
to the national reporters and a broader audience. For the session on “License
Contracts, Free Software and Creative Commons/Contrats de Licence, les Logiciels
Gratuits et Biens Communs Créatifs”, this process paved the way for very fruitful
cooperation between legal scholars from 25 jurisdictions. The questionnaire, which
is printed in the Annex to this volume, was sent out to the national reporters in
March 2013. The feedback from the national reporters was remarkable. Twenty-fi ve
reports were submitted before the Vienna conference. Seven national reporters were
present at the Vienna session. Those in attendance discussed the preliminary con-
clusions with the audience and highlighted specifi c issues from their jurisdictions.
After the conference, the general report and most of the national reports were
revised for publication in this volume. The Australian report may be downloaded at
“ h ttp://metzger.rewi.hu-berlin.de/doc/publikationen/National_Report_Australia.
pdf ” in the form of questions and answers. I am very grateful to Stefan Hennigs,
Marvin Bartels, Thomas Dysart, Sylvia Jakob and Sven Vetter who helped me with
the editing of the reports and the organisation of the session. Special thanks go to
Jürgen Basedow who established contact with the International Academy of
Comparative Law. This book is dedicated to my son Rasmus Quentin Höpfner.
Berlin, Germany
October 15, 2015
v

Contents
Part I General Report
1 General Report ........................................................................................ 3
Axel Metzger and Stefan Hennigs
Part II National Reports
2 License Contracts, Free Software and Creative
Commons – An Overview of the State of Play in Belgium .................. 51
Vincent Cassiers , Marie-Christine Janssens , and Esther van Zimmeren
3 Free Open Source Software and Creative
Commons in Brazil: Mapping the Legal Framework
of Alternative Intellectual Property Licenses ....................................... 77
Fabrício Bertini Pasquot Polido and Mônica Steffen Guise Rosina
4 Alternative Licensing Contracts
in Croatian Copyright Legislation ........................................................ 105
Igor Gliha and Romana Matanovac Vučković
5 The Cypriot Law of Contract Applied to Free
Software and Creative Commons: A Work in Progress ...................... 129
Tatiana Synodinou and Philippe Jougleux
6 Free Licenses and Recodification of Civil Law
in the Czech Republic ............................................................................. 141
Pavel Koukal , Matěj Myška , and Jaromír Šavelka
7 License Contracts, Free Software and Creative
Commons in Denmark ............................................................................ 159
Henrik Udsen
vii
viii Contents
8 Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) Licenses
and Other Alterative Licenses Under Finnish
Law – Hybrid Contracts Including Both Copyright
and Contract-Related Elements ............................................................. 171
Anniina Huttunen , Henri Tanskanen , and Martin von Willebrand
9 The French Copyright Law Opens Its Arms to the FOSS .................. 185
Nicolas Binctin
10 License Contracts, Free Software and Creative
Commons in Germany ............................................................................ 201
Alexander Peukert and Dominik König
11 License Contracts, Free Software and Creative
Commons in Greece ................................................................................ 227
Dionysia K allinikou
12 License Contracts, Free Software and Creative
Commons in the Hungarian Law .......................................................... 235
Anikó Grad-Gyenge and Péter Mezei
13 Free Software and Creative Commons Licenses
in Italy: A Work Still in Progress ........................................................... 251
Marco Ricolfi
14 Free and Open Source Software (FOSS)
and Other Alternative License Models in Japan .................................. 271
Ryu Kojima
15 Legal Issues on Free Software and License
Contracts: A Malaysian Perspective ..................................................... 293
Tay Pek San and Sik Cheng Peng
16 Fitting the Bill: FOSS and Alternative
Copyright Licensing in the Netherlands ............................................... 311
Lucie Guibault and Olivia Salamanca
17 Licence Contracts, Free Software
and Creative Commons in Poland ......................................................... 339
Beata Giesen
18 License Contracts, Free Software and Creative
Commons in Portuguese Law ................................................................ 357
Alexandre L. Dias Pereira
19 Legal Regime of Free Software in Romania ......................................... 371
Răzvan Dincă
Contents ix
20 Legal Issues on FOSS and Other Alternative Licenses in Korea ........ 387
Gyooho Lee
21 Free Software, Creative Commons
and Alternative Licenses: Spanish Perspectives ................................... 411
Pedro A. de Miguel Asensio
22 Legal Development in an Industrial
Context – FOSS in Taiwan ..................................................................... 431
Wei-min Liao
23 Turkish Copyright Law on Free and Open
Source Software (FOSS) Licenses ......................................................... 445
Emre Bayamlıoğlu
24 FOSS and Alternative Licensing in the United
Kingdom – Assessing the Dual Importance
of Contract Law and Copyright Law .................................................... 461
Luke McDonagh
25 The Uncertain Legal Status of Free and Open
Source Software in the United States .................................................... 477
Peter B. Maggs
About the Authors ........................................................................................... 495
Questionnaire .................................................................................................. 505