The License/Contract Dichotomy in Open Licenses : A Comparative Analysis

The paper looks at the legal nature of so-called open licenses - agreements designed to provide permissions to users and publishers through quot;some rights reservedquot; clauses. The article starts with the assertion that copyright licenses are contracts in Civil Law jurisdictions, and looks at the opposing views and practice in Common Law jurisdictions. The article particularly looks at recent case law in the United States which deals specifically with the issue, and concludes that there is now a clear jurisdictional split between both traditions on whether these licenses are contracts