On 13 Apr 2014, at 10:28, [email protected] wrote: Morning, Udo.
> On the other hand, from an end user's perspective, he/she is crippled
> the right to get the sources, which - eventually - is one of the core
> things of the GPL, or am I wrong?
I agree entirely that freedom of the user is core to the GPL. I am less sure
that there is a simple mechanism for user to obtain these in the event of an
allegation of non-compliance.
At least, I am not aware of any circumstance in which an end user has
successfully taken action, but I would love to hear otherwise
> Having some legal (albeit quite rusty) background from Austria, we have
> those contracts for the benefit of a third party ("Vertrag mit
> Schutzwirkung zugunsten Dritter"), allowing the third party to intervene
> according to the terms of the contract as well. In the case of the OP,
> that would come very handy ...
It sounds as if we have similar in the UK (although, of course, it means
interpreting the GPL as a contract, and persuading a court to this effect) —
it's the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999
(http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1999/31/contents).
Here's perhaps the key part (s1):
(1)Subject to the provisions of this Act, a person who is not a party to a
contract (a “third party”) may in his own right enforce a term of the contract
if—
(a)the contract expressly provides that he may, or
(b)subject to subsection (2), the term purports to confer a benefit on him.
(2)Subsection (1)(b) does not apply if on a proper construction of the contract
it appears that the parties did not intend the term to be enforceable by the
third party.
(3)The third party must be expressly identified in the contract by name, as a
member of a class or as answering a particular description but need not be in
existence when the contract is entered into.
Could the class be "any third party", who was entitled to require the source to
be provided in response to a written offer?
Best wishes
Neil
__________
Neil Brown
[email protected] | http://neilzone.co.uk
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