Re: Consideration in a Shrinkwrap Contract

At 9:17 AM -0400 10/11/00, Peter D. Junger wrote:

>No. But if that deal is enforceable, it is a contract not a license.

>A license is a grant (a conveyance) of permission to the licensee
>to do something that the licensee could not otherwise legally do. (If
>you give me permission to breath, that is not a license. If you give
>me permission to park in your driveway this afternoon, that is a
>license.

I really don't understand. Mr. Spielberg could no more have a copy of my novel than he could park in my driveway, except that I have permitted it. And I could no more have a copy of Windows 2000 than I could park in Bill Gates driveway, except that he has permitted it.

>...
>The purported restrictions in the purported ``license'' are not likely to
>held to be binding for all sorts of reasons, but if they are binding, they
>are binding as a contract terms, not as part of a license.
>...
>What you don't understand is that a license is not a contract ....

If all we are arguing about is whether to call it a license or a contract, I'm perfectly willing to concede the terminology, but I think that a conditional license is decidedly a contract.

John Noble Received on Sat Oct 14 2000 - 06:50:41 GMT