Standing

Posted Oct 24, 2021 1:33 UTC (Sun) by giraffedata (guest, #1954)
In reply to: Standing by qyliss
Parent article: Empowering users of GPL software

Here's one in the US, and another in France.

Thanks. I missed those and will try to remember them.

To put the California case in perspective, this 2017 case was, according to https://www.synopsys.com/blogs/software-security/breach-gpl-license-breach-contract/ , the first time a US court had found a contract cause of action in a GPL case, after 16 years of scrutiny of the GPL (the Linux era). That gives some idea of how nonobvious it is.

It was a case in a US federal (presumably because it also included federal copyright issues) district (lowest) court. The case was ultimately settled, but not before the court ruled that assuming the facts are as the copyright holder alleged, there was a breach of contract. This court was interpreting California contract law, but its finding would be binding only in federal court (in California).

I had a hard time following the French case, because French law and jurisprudence are apparently too foreign to me. It seems that French copyright law itself creates a contract cause of action, to the point that copyright infringement claims were dismissed.