The GPL dream is finally over!

[Rjack]

I have finally found in the precise language of a court, a
description of the error Eben Moglen, Richard Stallman and PJ
have been committing for all these years about the GPL being a
license and not a contract. It explains all those mutterings
about "unilateral permissions" and why you don't have to "accept"
the GPL because it's "not a contract". Ironically, the decision is
from the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit which recently
decided Jacobsen v. Katzer.


"That the government's promise to issue the loan guarantee was
contingent upon High Plains and Wells Fargo's performance of
numerous conditions does not make the promise any less binding.
Indeed, the essence of a unilateral contract is that one party's
promise is conditional upon the other party's performance of
certain acts and when the other party performs, the first party
is bound. See M.K. Metals, Inc. v. Container Recovery Corp., 645
F.2d 583, 588 (8th Cir.1981) (" '(a) contract condition which
qualifies a duty of performance by a party does not make the
existence or validity of the contract hinge on the condition' ")
(citation omitted); Moratzka v. United States (In re Matthieson),
63 B.R. 56, 60 (D.Minn.1986) ("[A] condition precedent is a
condition precedent to performance under the contract, not
formation of the contract. When a condition precedent is not
satisfied, it relieves a party to the contract of the obligation
to perform. It does not negate the existence of the contract or
the binding contractual relationship of the parties."). Although
these cases did not involve unilateral contracts, they set out a
general principle of contract law concerning conditional
performance that is applicable to all types of contracts." WELLS
FARGO BANK, N.A., v. The UNITED STATES; 88 F.3d 1012 (CAFC 1996)


My dream is that Eben, RMS, and all GPL true believers read and
understand this decision so that we need never again hear the
nonsense claim that "The GPL is a license and not a contract".

http://bulk.resource.org/courts.gov/c/F3/88/88.F3d.1012.95-5125.95-5121.html

Please! Someone email this decision to Eben Moglen and PJ and all
the GNUtians out there on our planet.

Sincerely,
Rjack