Free licences as a contract or permission? What is more feasible?

MYŠKA, Matěj and Michal KOŠČÍK. Free licences as a contract or permission? What is more feasible? In 2nd Göttingen International Research Forum on Law and ICT/IP. 2013.

Basic information

• Original name: Free licences as a contract or permission? What is more feasible?
• Authors: MYŠKA, Matěj and Michal KOŠČÍK.
• Edition: 2nd Göttingen International Research Forum on Law and ICT/IP, 2013.

Other information

• Original language: English
• Type of outcome: Presentations at conferences
• Field of Study: 50500 5.5 Law
• Country of publisher: Czech Republic
• Confidentiality degree: is not subject to a state or trade secret
• Organization unit: Faculty of Law
• Keywords in English: copyright law; licence; contract; public licences; Creative Commons
• Tags: rivok
• Tags: International impact

Abstract

This paper explores the possibilities and approaches to the legal nature of the so called “free” or “open” licences from the perspective of a Central European Civil law system, such as the system of the Czech Republic. Firstly the Czech copyright system is briefly introduced. Next, the article analyses the possible utilization of unilateral licence (permission) in a Czech civil law, which traditionally construes the copyright licence as a contract. Then the practical problems connected with this approach are identified and discussed. These include choice of law, moral rights, obligatory written form and legal certainty of a licensee. The paper concludes with a proposition for a more structured approach to the issue at stake: an interpretation of the free licences as a simple consent (permission) is possible, however not viable if the right holder wants to oblige the other party, e.g. include the “copyleft” clause. Thus the interpretation as a contractual obligation is advocated.

Links

• GAP408/12/2210, research and development project: Name: Projekt integrace veřejných licencí