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owl [soylentnews.org] writes:

Last week an important judicial ruling came down on a very intriguing case about open source license compliance. In this post, I'll talk about what makes it so interesting and potentially impactful across our industry.

Legal background

Traditionally, open source licenses have been enforced through the law of copyright. In other words, the key question has been did copying occur, and if so, were the rights of the author violated? This has a subtle, but very important effect: only the author can initiate the lawsuit. In addition in the United States, such lawsuits must be filed in federal court, rather than in state courts, and the remedies available are primarily financial.

However, arguably, open source licenses could also be enforced through the law of contracts. Contracts can be about copyright, but in general they are a different beast. In the United States, remedies for contracts can include what is called "specific performance”—in other words, a judge can order someone who has broken a contract to do a specific act. Contracts also are typically enforced through state courts, not federal courts.

Finally, and most importantly for our discussion today, contracts can—under certain conditions—be enforced by third parties. These parties are known as third-party beneficiaries. Because they benefit from the contract, they can sometimes enforce the contract. For example, if I signed a contract with a baker to deliver a cake to my mother, my mother would be able to sue the baker if the cake did not arrive.

Original Submission