Is the contract restricted to the buyers, or to the "any 3rd party" of the GPL?

Posted Jan 26, 2026 18:24 UTC (Mon) by Wol (subscriber, #4433)
In reply to: Is the contract restricted to the buyers, or to the "any 3rd party" of the GPL? by kleptog
Parent article: SFC v. VIZIO: who can enforce the GPL?

> In Common Law systems, the distinction between a contract and a license is fuzzy, which makes discussion harder due to overlapping legal terminology. Here they are two strictly separated categories.

Given that a contract (under our legal system, at least) is assumed to be a meeting of minds, I would agree that a licence is not a contract.

But a licence is *the terms of the contract*.

Just like, if you have a copy of the GPL3, that copy is not a licence. But when you copy (or other restricted actions) some GPL software, that *copy* of the GPL is the terms and conditions that let you copy it.

So the question is - "does a contract exist, the agreed terms being the GPL"? And if you're going to say the licence and the contract are two separate things, I'd agree with you. I'd just argue that you cannot take advantage of the GPL without bringing a contract into existence. Which was my point about does the offender admit to (criminal) copyright violations, or breach of contract.

Cheers,
Wol