Summary
Part VI of the CRID volume on free software and the law. Free software is mostly distributed over the internet, often automatically, which makes it hard to link to any one country. The chapter looks at the questions facing a free software author who seeks redress before the Belgian courts for breach of the licence or for copyright infringement: international jurisdiction under the Brussels I Regulation, the position of foreigners, the law applicable to the licence under the 1980 Rome Convention and to copyright and infringement, and the recognition of judgments. It recommends forum and governing-law clauses pointing to the licensor’s domicile, as in the OSL, warns against clauses fixing a single country, and advises authors of modifications to add such clauses.
Reference
H. Haouideg, « Les logiciels libres et le droit international privé », Les logiciels libres face au droit, Cahiers du CRID, n° 25, Bruylant, 2005, p. 227-262.