Why CeCILL as the GNU GPL already exists ?
The GNU GPL has some problems with respect to French law: • Article L.131-3 of the French Intellectual Property Code requires among other things that the field of exploitation of the assigned rights be defined • The No Warranty clauses of the GNU GPL are not valid with respect to • article L.132-1 of the French Consumer Code stating that this kind of clause is null and void when the licensee is a consumer or a non professional • article 1386-15 of the French Civil Code forbidding these clauses in case of damages caused by a defective computer program to a consumer or a non professional Moreover the GNU GPL, by choosing not to mention any applicable rights, introduces some legal uncertainties. This was exemplified by the judgement of a Munich court in 2004 where the judges were not able to determine whether some clauses of the GPL were valid according to German law. CeCILL, by mentioning the French law as the applicable law and the respect of the various European directives is more robu
