Re: Open source licenses are /actually/ contracts?!?

[Tim Tyler]

Alexander Terekhov wrote:
> Tim Tyler wrote:

> > *If* the user agreed to a contract by simply copying,
> > the world would be full of court cases where
> > SlimeSoft had included in the small print of its
> > license agreement:
> >
> > "And by the act of copying this software, you hereby
> >   agree to sell all your worldly goods and deposit the
> >   proceeds in swiss bank account #xxxxxxxx."
> >
> > Users do not agree to *anything* by the act of
> > copying something.  The worst that can happen
> > is that they can subsequently be sued for copyright
> > violation - since the user can simply claim that they
> > never bothered to read the license. [...]
>
> Suppose that value of "your worldly goods" is less than damages for 
> copyright infringement. Why wouldn't you bring such license as a 
> defense to claim of copyright infringement? I certainly would.

Right - but suppose that things are the other way around -
and that SlimeSoft has to sue for copyright violation, and
then live with whatever the court awards them for this
evidently-terrible crime.
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