Abstract
This chapter provides general information on the legal status of Free and Open Source Software Licenses (e.g. GNU General Public License, the MIT License) and other alternative licenses (e.g. Creative Commons) under Czech law. The issues are discussed under both contract law and copyright law following the recodification of Czech civil law through the adoption of the new Czech Civil Code. The discussed topics concerning contract law include, inter alia, the legal nature of F/OSS and alternative licenses (i.e. whether they are to be construed as contracts or unilateral instruments), formal requirements, standard terms and conditions, language issues, special rules of interpretation, disclaimers of warranty and liability and the termination of granted licenses. The issues of copyright law include, inter alia, the interpretation of broad and unspecific terms in license contracts, questions concerning unknown modes of use of a work at the time of the conclusion of the license agreement, revocation or rescission rights in copyright legislation, sub-licensing, statutory rights for equitable remuneration, participation in the distribution of revenues by collection societies, the right to modify the copyrighted work and moral rights, and remedies in the case of termination of the licensee’s right. Other issues, e.g. the competition law aspects of F/OSS licenses, are also discussed.
The authors would like to thank Tomáš Kubeša for insightful and helpful comments on the sections “Copyleft provisions and competition law” and “Public procurement” of this chapter. All online resources were accessed 15th October 2013.
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Notes
- 1.
With the following resources being the exception: J Aujezdský, ‘Licence’ (root.cz), www.root.cz/specialy/licence. V Kustein, ‘Fenomén svobodného softwaru’ (2011) 3 Revue pro právo a technologie 60; M Myška and others, Veřejné licence v České republice (Tribun EU, Brno, Tribun EU, 2012); I Sedláčková, ‘Kompatibilita svobodných licencí’ (2012) 5 Revue pro právo a technologie 122; I Telec ‘Souhlas, nebo licenční závazek?’ (2013) Právní rozhledy 457.
General commentaries do, in a limited way, address the issues of FOSS and alternative licensing. See generally: I Telec and P Tůma, Autorský zákon: komentář (Praha, C.H. Beck, 2007).
- 2.
Acts of Parliament of the Czech Republic and other legal regulations enter into force on the day they are published in the official Collection of Laws (Sbírka zákonů, officially abbreviated as Sb.; further in this text the English abbreviation ‘Coll.’ is used).
- 3.
Sections 46–57.
- 4.
Sections 508–515.
- 5.
The unofficial translation of the partially amended Copyright Act (as amended by the Act No. 216/2006 Coll.) available on the website of the Czech Ministry of Culture is used further in this chapter as the basis for the English translation of the respective provisions of the Copyright Act. Available online www.mkcr.cz/assets/autorske-pravo/Act_no_121_2000.doc.
- 6.
Provided, however, that these licenses are deemed to be contracts – for this discussion see part II of this chapter.
- 7.
I.e. these provisions are not applicable to other classes of IP.
- 8.
Previously this has only been deduced through the analogous application of the Sec. 273 of the Commercial Code. (Act No. 513/1991 Coll.) which dealt with trade terms.
- 9.
On the basis of a cumulative agreement, the relevant collective rights manager (collecting society) grants a license for specific use of the relevant types of works, not only on behalf of right holders represented on the basis of the agreement (with the Collective Rights Manager), but also on behalf of others who are considered represented on the basis of the law. That is regardless of whether the right holder is represented by the respective Collective Rights Manager or not, the Manager is entitled to license works for such use and collect royalties.
- 10.
See Pirátská strana, OSA versus Shangri-la (2013) www.pirati.cz/temata/shangri-la. Based upon this dispute, the Czech Pirate Party launched a campaign “Hrajeme svobodnou hudbu!” (“We play free music!”) that promoted the Creative Commons licensed music as an alternative to the standard repertoire of the collecting societies.
- 11.
Authored by: Bohumír Štědroň, Ján Matejka, Filip Molčan, Jan Ladin. B Štědroň, Open Source software ve veřejné správě a soukromém sektoru (Praha, Grada, 2009).
- 12.
The various licenses are available online in the Creative Commons License Chooser, creativecommons.org/choose/, after selecting the earlier versions and the “Czech Republic” license jurisdiction. Homepage of the Czech Creative Commons Project: www.creativecommons.cz. A prime example of CC usage could be the National Repository of Grey Literature, www.nusl.cz/?lang=en.
- 13.
M Myška and others, Veřejné licence (2012), 18–20.
- 14.
I Telec, Souhlas (2013) 460.
- 15.
The various licenses are available online in the Creative Commons License Chooser after selecting the earlier versions and the “Czech Republic” license jurisdiction.
- 16.
All versions of GNU GPL are unofficial translated and available online www.gnugpl.cz. The unofficial translation of the LGPL version 3 is also available online www.lgpl.cz.
- 17.
I Telec and P Tůma, Autorský zákon (2007) 476.
- 18.
This Section replaces the already repealed Sec. 50 of the Copyright Act. Again the unofficial translation mentioned above was used as the basis for the English translation of this section.
- 19.
Sec. 10 para 1 of the NCC.
- 20.
As an example the contractual provisions in Sections 14 GNU GPL Version 3 and Section 10 Mozilla Public License Version 2.0 will be considered valid.
- 21.
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) [2009] OJ L111/16.
- 22.
Sec. 38a of the Copyright Act read as follows:
Licences for temporary Reproductions
(1) Copyright is not infringed by anybody who performs temporary acts of reproduction of works that are transient or incidental and represent an integral and essential part of a technological process which have no any independent economic significance, and whose sole purpose is to enable:
(a) Transmission of the work by an intermediary between third parties through a computer network or any other similar network; or
(b) Lawful use of the work.
- 23.
Directive 2001/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 May 2001 on the harmonisation of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the information society [2001] OJ L167/10.
- 24.
Also, the parties’ expressed intentions in regards to the interpretation and meaning of it have to be taken into account.
- 25.
See generally I Telec and P Tůma, Autorský zákon (2007) 503. Here again the nature of FOSS may be assessed differently. Either the right to sub-license may be constructed by the contract or the unilateral act.
- 26.
Sec. 95 of the Copyright Act reads as follows: “(1) Rights subject to compulsory collective rights management are the following: […] 3. the making of a reproduction for personal use on the basis of an audio or audiovisual fixation or any other fixation by the transfer of its content by means of a technical device to a blank carrier of such fixation; 4. the making of a reproduction for a natural person’s personal use or for a legal person’s or sole trader’s own internal use by means of a technical device for making printed reproductions on paper or any other carrier material, also through a third party.”
- 27.
See e.g. Sect. 4(g) of Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Czech Republic Public License. Available online creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/cz/legalcode.
- 28.
I Telec and P Tůma, Autorský zákon (2007) 433.
- 29.
Sec. 40 par 4 of Copyright Act.
- 30.
In this case one could theoretically claim the pecuniary satisfaction for worsening of reputation in the FOSS community.
- 31.
Partly amended unofficial English translation available form www.portal-vz.cz/CMSPages/GetFile.aspx?guid=21efe55d-4e52-487b-8814-7ff9d808e4fa.
- 32.
Decision of the Chairman of the Office for the Protection of Competition, 28. 8. 2013, R120,124/2012/VZ-16183/2013/310/MLR.
- 33.
Judgement of Supreme Administrative Court, 5. 6. 2008,1 Afs 20/2008-152.
- 34.
Judgement of Supreme Administrative Court, 11. 1. 2013, 5 Afs 42/2012-53.
List of References
Act No. 121/2000 Coll., Copyright Act, as amended.
Act No. 137/2006 Coll., Act on Public Contracts, as amended.
Act No. 40/1964 Coll., Civil Code, as amended.
Act No. 513/1991 Coll., Commercial Code, as amended.
Act No. 89/2012 Coll., Civil Code.
Directive 2001/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 May 2001 on the harmonisation of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the information society [2001] OJ L167/10.
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) [2009] OJ L111/16.
Kustein, V, ‘Fenomén svobodného softwaru’ (2011) 3 Revue pro právo a technologie 60.
Myška, M and Kyncl, L and Polčák, R and Šavelka, J, Veřejné licence v České republice (Tribun EU, Brno, Tribun EU, 2012).
Sedláčková, I, ‘Kompatibilita svobodných licencí’ (2012) 5 Revue pro právo a technologie 122.
Štědroň, B, Open Source software ve veřejné správě a soukromém sektoru (Praha, Grada, 2009).
Telec, I and Tůma, P, Autorský zákon: komentář (Praha, C.H. Beck, 2007).
Telec, I, ‘Souhlas, nebo licenční závazek?’ (2013) Právní rozhledy 457.
List of Cases
Decision of the Chairman of the Office for the Protection of Competition of 28. 8. 2013, R120,124/2012/VZ-16183/2013/310/MLR.
Judgement of Supreme Administrative Court, 5. 6. 2008, 1 Afs 20/2008-152.
Judgement of Supreme Administrative Court, 11. 1. 2013, Afs 42/2012-53.
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Koukal, P., Myška, M., Šavelka, J. (2016). Free Licenses and Recodification of Civil Law in the Czech Republic. 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_6
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