Abstract
In Croatia, there are no special rules regulating FOSS and alternative licenses. The general rules regulating licenses and copyright contracts apply accordingly. FOSS licenses, including alternative license contracts, are generally construed as consensual contracts, relying on the principle of offer and acceptance. If software accompanied by a FOSS license is put on the Internet, this constitutes a general offer and the act of use is deemed to be an implicit acceptance of that offer. Although copyright contracts should be in a written form, the written form requirement is to be interpreted broadly. Furthermore, with regard to the interpretation of these types of contract, the general rule in dubio pro auctore applies, in addition to the rule that the contract should be interpreted in accordance with its purpose. Contractual clauses which exclude the warranty and liability of the seller must be expressly agreed to by the buyer; otherwise the seller shall be liable. Nevertheless, it is possible to use the software or other work if the right owner issues a mere authorisation for use as a unilateral act. In any case, the right owner is entitled to remuneration for each use, unless otherwise prescribed by the law or explicitly excluded by the contract. If the remuneration is not agreed between the parties, the author is entitled to equitable remuneration. Making available to the public under Croatian law is not covered by the distribution right, and in this respect, it is difficult to accept that it would be covered by the distribution right.
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- 1.
Copyright Act, OJ 9/99, 76/99 and 127/99, hereinafter referred to as the former Copyright Act.
- 2.
See Art 51 of the former Copyright Act.
- 3.
Henneberg claims that the former Copyright Act was based on the dualistic principle. See HENNEBERG, Ivan, Autorsko pravo, Zagreb, 2001, p 164.
- 4.
See GLIHA, Igor, Autorsko pravo, pravni propisi, Zagreb, 2000, pp 11–13 and GLIHA, Igor, Pravna narav nakladnikovih prava (dis.), Zagreb, 1996, pp 270–285.
- 5.
The Copyright and Related Rights Act, OJ 167/03, 79/07, 80/11, 125/11, 141/13 and 127/14 hereinafter referred to as the CRRA.
- 6.
The CRRA was amended several times and all the amendments were introduced mainly due to the alignment of the national copyright system with the acquis communautaire, see GLIHA, Igor, Negotiations on the Accession to the EU and the Harmonization of Intellectual Property with the acquis communautaire in Light of Globalization, Patents and Technological Progress in a Globalized World, Liber Amicorum Joseph Straus, Springer Verlag, 2008, pp 560–562.
- 7.
Both the testamentary and the legal heirs. See more MATANOVAC, Romana, Nasljeđivanje autorskog prava, in: Zbornik Pravnog fakulteta u Zagrebu, vol. 54, no 3–4, 2004, pp 607–650.
- 8.
See Art. 42 para. 1 of the CRRA.
- 9.
See GLIHA, Igor, Copyright Throughout the World – Croatia, (ed Silke von Lewinski), West Publishing, 2010, §11:29.
- 10.
See Art 44 para 1 of the CRRA.
- 11.
In older legal literature it is claimed that the contracts for legal dispositions of software are by their nature license contracts. See PARAĆ, Zoran, Imovinskopravna zaštita i prijenos kompjutorskog softwarea (dis.) Pravni fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu, Zagreb 1990, pp 164 et seq, 199 et seq and 243.
- 12.
See eg KUNDA, Ivana/MATANOVAC VUČKOVIĆ, Romana, Raspolaganje autorskim pravom na računalnom programu – materijalnopravni i kolizijskoprani aspekti, in: Zbornik Pravnog fakulteta u Rijeci, vol 31, no 1 suppl., 2010, p 95; FIKEYS KRMIĆ, Nelka, Licencni ugovori za računalni software, Zbornik HDAP, 2009, vol. 10, pp 124 and 125; ZLATOVIĆ, Dragan, Licenciranje softwarea, Informator, no 5748, 8.4.2009, pp 5 and 6.
- 13.
According to Art 108 of the CRRA, it shall be presumed that the economic rights in computer programs created under an employment contract are granted to the employer, unless proven to the contrary, while the moral rights remain with the author who created the computer program.
- 14.
A ‘Sole licence’ is the type of the exclusive licence where the right owner (licensor) keeps the right to use the object of the licence even though he issued the exclusive licence to the licensee.
- 15.
See Art 45 of the CRRA.
- 16.
See Art 46 of the CRRA.
- 17.
See Art 47 of the CRRA.
- 18.
See Art 48 of the CRRA.
- 19.
See Art 49 of the CRRA. This provision refers to situations where the author or right owner entrusts the collecting society or an agency or an agent to exercise his/her rights on his/her account. A collecting society acts in its own name (Art 174 of the CRRA) while an agency or an agent exercise the rights in the name of an author or right owner or in its own name, depending on the agreement concluded with the author or right owner.
- 20.
This provision is closely related to Art 13 para 3 of the CRRA which stipulates that the author is entitled to remuneration for each use of his work, unless otherwise provided for by the CRRA or by a contract.
- 21.
The Obligation Act, OJ 35/05, 41/08 and 125/11, hereinafter referred to as OA.
- 22.
These provisions are regulated by taking into account Directive 2009/24/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2009 on the legal protection of computer programs (Codified version) OJ L 111/16, 5.5.2009. See in particular Art 5 para. 1 and 2 and Art 6 of the Directive.
- 23.
See Arts 56–67 of the CRRA.
- 24.
See Arts 68–70 of the CRRA.
- 25.
See Arts 71 and 72 of the CRRA.
- 26.
See Art 118 of the CRRA.
- 27.
See Arts 73 and 74 of the CRRA.
- 28.
See Arts 75 and 76 of the CRRA.
- 29.
See Art 4 para. 2 of the CRRA.
- 30.
The Consumer Protection Act, OJ 41/14 hereinafter referred to as: the CPA.
- 31.
There are Croatian authors who claim that the provisions on license contracts in Arts 669–724 of the OA apply also to license contracts for computer programs. See FIKEYS KRMIĆ, oc., pp 124 and 125. See also ZLATOVIĆ, oc, pp 5 and 6.
- 32.
See PARAĆ, Zoran, Imovinskopravna zaštita i prijenos kompjutorskog softwarea (dis.), University of Zagreb, Faculty of Law, 1990, p. 163, f 441. See also Art 12 of the OA.
- 33.
See Art 12 para 2 of the OA.
- 34.
See Art 12. para 4. of the OA. See also SLAKOPER, Zvonimir/GORENC, Vilim, Obvezno pravo, opći dio – sklapanje, promjene i prestanak ugovora, Zagreb, 2009, pp 66 and 67.
- 35.
See also VUKMIR, Mladen/ĆUK, Ivan, Novi modeli iskorištavanja autorskog djela, Zbornik HDAP, vol. 7, 2006, pp 102–104 f 112,113.
- 36.
- 37.
See Art 247 of the OA. See also KLARIĆ, Petar/VEDRIŠ, Mladen, Građansko pravo, Zagreb, 2008, p 401; MOMČINOVIĆ, Hrvoje, Sklapanje ugovora i oblik (forma) ugovora, Naša zakonitost, 9–10/1988, p 989; BARBIĆ, Jakša, Sklapanje ugovora po zakonu o obveznim odnosima (suglasnost volja) Zagreb, 1980.
- 38.
See also SLAKOPER/GORENC, oc, p. 305.
- 39.
All contracts which include transactions with land and other immovables require written form (See eg Art 377 of the OA on the sale contract or Art 482 of the OA on the contract of donation).
- 40.
Real contracts, where the act of delivery of the object of the agreement (a thing) into possession of the acquirer (See eg the lending contract in Art 509 of the OA) constitutes the contract are very rare in the Croatian law. Copyright contracts and therefore licensing contracts are consensual contracts.
- 41.
See Art 184 of the CRRA. For details see GLIHA, Igor/MATANOVAC VUČKOVIĆ, Romana, Zastara u pravu intelektualnog vlasništva, in: Uzelac A., Garašić J., Maganić A. (eds), Djelotvorna pravna zaštita u pravičnom postupku: Izazovi pravosudnih transformacija na jugu Europe (Liber amicorum Mihajlo Dika), Zagreb, 2013, pp 993–1032.
- 42.
See Art 225 of the OA.
- 43.
See KLARIĆ/VEDRIŠ, oc, p 401.
- 44.
See Art. 253 para. 1 of the OA. After the contract is concluded, the parties may agree on other conditions of the contract and specific contractual clauses.
- 45.
See Art 254 of the OA.
- 46.
See KLARIĆ/VEDRIŠ, oc, p 403.
- 47.
See Art 262 of the OA.
- 48.
See Art 59 of the CRRA.
- 49.
See Vs, Revr- 300/03 of 15 February 2005, orig. and Vs. Rev-1153/82 of 6 January 1983, PSP-23/88. If one contractual party did not sign the contract which should be concluded in a written form, this contract is not valid due to the lack of form. Vs. Rev-7/88 of 6 July 1988. PSP-46/71. See also CRNIĆ, Ivica, Zakon o obveznim odnosima – napomene komentari, sudska praksa i abecedno kazalo pojmova, Zagreb, 2010, p 458.
- 50.
See Art 292 para 4 of the OA.
- 51.
See VSH Rev 1886/85 of 7 January 1986. In this decision the Court took the view that the requirement for the written form of the construction contract is met where the written offer containing all essential terms of the contract is given and the offeree paid the price by giving a written order to the bank.
- 52.
A well-established business practice in collective management is also confirmed by the courts. Namely, it shall be assumed that the authorisation for public performance of the works is given if the user pays the remuneration prescribed in the tariff of the collecting society although there is no written contract.
- 53.
See the case law which refers to the form of the contract on creation of a copyright work on commission, VTSRH Pž-2289/95 of 9 January 1997. See also case law which refers to the contracts of sale of immovable property Vs, Rev-1701/01 of 17 April 2003 and contract of lease of office premises Vs, II rev-174/98 of 30 January 2002. Same for the contract of commission.
- 54.
For general contract conditions see PETRIĆ, Silvija, Opći uvjeti ugovora prema novom ZOO-u, Pravo u gospodarstvu, 4/06, Zagreb, 2006, pp 199–243.
- 55.
For adhesion contracts as a specific type of standard contract see CRNIĆ, oc, p 468 and PETRIĆ, oc., pp 203 and 204.
- 56.
See KLARIĆ/VEDRIŠ, oc, pp 406 and 407.
- 57.
This provision was introduced into the CRRA in 2007. See MATANOVAC, Romana/GLIHA, Igor, Novela Zakona o autorskom pravu i srodnim pravima iz 2007. godine, in: MATANOVAC, Romana (ed.) Prilagodba hrvatskog prava intelektualnog vlasništva europskom pravu, Zagreb, 2007, pp 135 and 136.
- 58.
See GLIHA, Igor, Raspolaganje autorskim pravom (i srodnim pravima), Zbornik HDAP, vol. 5, 2004, p 100.
- 59.
Eg Section 14 of the GNU GPL Version 3 and Section 10 Mozilla Public License Version 2.0.
- 60.
See also KLARIĆ/VEDRIŠ, oc, pp 415–429.
- 61.
See Art 408 para. 2 of the OA.
- 62.
See Art 435 para. 2 of the OA.
- 63.
See Art 296 para. 1 of the OA. In evaluating whether a provision in standard terms and conditions is null and void, it is necessary to take into account all circumstances both before and at the time of conclusion of the contract, the legal nature of a contract, the type of goods or services that constitute the performance, other provisions of the contract and the provisions of another contract with which the provision in question is linked. See para 2.
- 64.
While implementing the Council Directive 93/13/EEC of 5 April 1993 on unfair terms in consumer contracts into Croatian legal order, the Croatian legislator decided to apply Art 3 of this Directive not only to the B2C contracts, but to all types of contracts (B2B and standard private contracts). See Art. 296 of the OA.
- 65.
See supra in section “Formal requirements”.
- 66.
See Art 53 of the CRRA.
- 67.
“…1. the permanent or temporary reproduction of a computer program by any means and in any form, in part or in whole; this includes loading, displaying, running, transmission or storage of a computer program which necessitate its reproduction; 2. the translation, adaptation, arrangement and any other alteration of a computer program, and the reproduction of the results thereof, without prejudice to the right of the person who alters the program;…”.
- 68.
See Art 44 para 5 of the CRRA.
- 69.
See supra in section “Rules applicable to license contracts in general”.
- 70.
On the other hand we are aware of the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) decision C-128/11 UsedSoft v. Oracle where it was decided that the rules on the exhaustion of distribution right apply, under certain conditions, to a copy of a computer program downloaded from the Internet. This decision could also influence the interpretation of the meaning of the contractual provision on distribution and making available to the public.
- 71.
See Art 319 of the OA.
- 72.
See Art 320 para 1 of the OA.
- 73.
See Art 320 para 2 of the OA.
- 74.
See Art 321 of the OA.
- 75.
Arg. ex Art 47 para 1 of the CRRA.
- 76.
See Art 17 para 1 of the CRRA.
- 77.
See Art 17 par 5 of the CRRA.
- 78.
See Art 13 para 3 of the CRRA.
- 79.
See Art 53 of the CRRA.
- 80.
Under Croatain copyright law, the right of broadcasting and rebroadcasting, the rental right, the right to remuneration for public lending, and the right to remuneration for reproduction for private use can be only managed through collecting society (Art 156 par 2 of the CRRA).
- 81.
Also, according to prevailing business practice of collecting societies in Croatia, it would not be possible that an author or other copyright or related right owner could participate at the same time in the collective management system and in an alternative licensing model system, in relation to the rights which are exercised collectively in the territory of Croatia. A contract concluded between an author or other copyright or related right owner and a collecting society is a standard contract which includes all the rights that the respective collecting society is entitled to exercise collectively in the territory of Croatia (The contract which is signed by the members of the Croatian Composers’ Society – Collecting Society (HDS ZAMP) is published on < http://www.zamp.hr/autori/dokumenti/pregled>. The contract which is signed by the members of the Croatian Performers’ Rights Collecting Society is published on < http://www.huzip.hr/novi-izvodjaci>). Therefore, as seen in the texts of these standard contracts, it would not be possible to exclude some rights from the collective management system (this is so-called all-or-nothing system). Of course, the exercise of rights which are not part of the collecting management system, namely the rights which are usually exercised individually, could be exercised through alternative license model as there is no conflict between the two systems. In light of the proposal of the EU Directive on collective management, it is expected that the all-or-nothing approach of the collecting societies will eventually change.
- 82.
See Art 31 of the CRRA.
- 83.
See Art 16 of the CRRA.
- 84.
See Art 4 of the CRRA.
- 85.
See Art 8 of the CRRA.
- 86.
See supra in section “Automatic termination of licenses”.
- 87.
See KLARIĆ/VEDRIŠ, oc, pp 480 and 481.
- 88.
See Art 177 of the CRRA.
- 89.
See Art 178 of the CRRA.
- 90.
See Art 179 para 1 of the CRRA.
- 91.
See Art 183 of the CRRA.
- 92.
See Art 179 para 3 of the CRRA.
- 93.
See Art 172 para 1 of the CRRA.
- 94.
See Art 180 of the CRRA.
- 95.
See Arts 185 and 185a of the CRRA.
- 96.
See Art 342 para 1 of the OA.
- 97.
See Art 342 para 2 of the OA.
- 98.
Usually, contractual damages are limited to ordinary damage (damnum emergens) and loss of earnings (lucrum cessans) as well as to equitable non-pecuniary damage that, at the time of entering into the contract, had to be foreseen by the debtor as a possible consequence of a breach of the contract, considering the facts he/she knew or should have known at the time. In the case of fraud, deliberate non-performance or non-performance due to gross negligence, the creditor has the right to request from the debtor the compensation for the entire damage caused by the breach of the contract, regardless of the fact that the debtor did not know of the particular circumstances resulting in the damage caused. (See Art 346 of the OA). See also KLARIĆ/VEDRIŠ, oc, pp 605 and 606, 634.
- 99.
The liability of the debtor for intentional or gross negligence may not be excluded or restricted by contract in advance. (See Art 345 para 1 of the OA).
- 100.
The Patent Act, OJ 173/03, 87/05, 76/07, 30/09, 128/10, 49/11, 76/13, Art 5 para 6 subpara 5.
References
The Consumer Protection Act, OJ 41/14.
The Copyright Act, OJ 9/99, 76/99 and 127/99.
The Copyright and Related Rights Act, OJ 167/03, 79/07, 80/11, 125/11, 141/13 and 127/14.
Council Directive 93/13/EEC of 5 April 1993 on unfair terms in consumer contracts.
Directive 2009/ 24/ EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2009 on the legal protection of computer programs (Codified version) OJ L 111/16, 5.5.2009.
The Obligation Act, OJ 35/05, 41/08 and 125/11.
C-128/11 UsedSoft v. Oracle.
VS, Rev-1153/82 of 6 January 1983, PSP-23/88.
VSH Rev 1886/85 of 7 January 1986.
VTSRH Pž-2289/95 of 9 January 1997.
VS, Rev-1701/01 of 17 April 2003.
VS, II rev-174/98 of 30 January 2002.
VS, Revr- 300/03 of 15 February 2005, Izv.
BARBIĆ, Jakša, Sklapanje ugovora po zakonu o obveznim odnosima (suglasnost volja) Zagreb, 1980.
CRNIĆ, Ivica, Zakon o obveznim odnosima – napomene komentari, sudska praksa i abecedno kazalo pojmova, Zagreb, 2010.
FIKEYS KRMIĆ, Nelka, Licencni ugovori za računalni software, Zbornik HDAP, 2009, vol. 10.
GLIHA, Igor, Autorsko pravo, pravni propisi, Zagreb, 2000.
GLIHA, Igor, Copyright Throughout the World - Croatia, (ed. Silke von Lewinski), West Publishing, 2010, §11:29.
GLIHA, Igor, Negotiations on the Accession to the EU and the Harmonization of Intellectual Property with the acquis communautaire in Light of Globalization, Patents and Technological Progress in a Globalized World, Liber Amicorum Joseph Straus, Springer Verlag, 2008.
GLIHA, Igor, Pravna narav nakladnikovih prava (dis.), Zagreb, 1996.
GLIHA, Igor, Raspolaganje autorskim pravom (i srodnim pravima), Zbornik HDAP, vol. 5, 2004.
GLIHA, Igor / MATANOVAC VUČKOVIĆ, Romana, Zastara u pravu intelektualnog vlasništva, in: Uzelac A., Garašić J., Maganić A. (ed.), Djelotvorna pravna zaštita u pravičnom postupku: Izazovi pravosudnih transformacija na jugu Europe (Liber amicorum Mihajlo Dika), Zagreb, 2013.
HENNEBERG, Ivan, Autorsko pravo, Zagreb, 2001.
KLARIĆ, Petar / VEDRIŠ, Mladen, Građansko pravo, Zagreb, 2008.
KUNDA, Ivana / MATANOVAC VUČKOVIĆ, Romana, Raspolaganje autorskim pravom na računalnom programu – materijalnopravni i kolizijskoprani aspekti, in: Zbornik Pravnog fakulteta u Rijeci, vol. 31, no. 1 suppl., 2010.
MATANOVAC, Romana, Nasljeđivanje autorskog prava, in : Zbornik Pravnog fakulteta u Zagrebu, vol. 54, no. 3-4, 2004.
MATANOVAC, Romana / GLIHA, Igor, Novela Zakona o autorskom pravu i srodnim pravima iz 2007. godine, in: MATANOVAC, Romana (ed.) Prilagodba hrvatskog prava intelektualnog vlasništva europskom pravu, Zagreb, 2007.
MOMČINOVIĆ, Hrvoje, Sklapanje ugovora i oblik (forma) ugovora, Naša zakonitost, 9-10/1988.
PARAĆ, Zoran, Imovinskopravna zaštita i prijenos kompjutorskog softwarea (dis.) Pravni fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu, Zagreb, 1990.
PETRIĆ, Silvija, Opći uvjeti ugovora prema novom ZOO-u, Pravo u gospodarstvu, 4/06, Zagreb, 2006.
SLAKOPER, Zvonimir / GORENC, Vilim, Obvezno pravo, opći dio – sklapanje, promjene i prestanak ugovora, Zagreb, 2009.
VUKMIR, Mladen / ĆUK, Ivan, Novi modeli iskorištavanja autorskog djela, Zbornik HDAP, vol. 7, 2006.
ZLATOVIĆ, Dragan, Licenciranje softwarea, Informator, no. 5748, 8.4.2009.
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Gliha, I., Matanovac Vučković, R. (2016). Alternative Licensing Contracts in Croatian Copyright Legislation. In: Metzger, A. (eds) Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) and other Alternative License Models. Ius Comparatum - Global Studies in Comparative Law, vol 12. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-21560-0_4
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