Re: [boost] Limitation of liability in Boost License

From: Markus Schöpflin (markus.schoepflin_at_[hidden])
Date: 2007-08-23 04:45:30

Stephan Tolksdorf wrote:

> IANAL but AFAIK the Boost License's disclaimer of warranty and liability 
> is invalid under German law (irrespective whether the licensee is a 
> consumer or not). I'd guess that similar can be said about some other 
> jurisdictions in Europe or elsewhere.
> 
> I'm curious, is this a matter of concern for anyone, in particular for 
> corporate contributors?

IANAL too, but you're right, under German law it's not possible to 
disclaim warranty and liability. But AFAIK, as long as you're giving 
your software away for free, you're only liable for deceit and 
fraudulent concealment of defects and grossly negligent behavior. (I 
have no idea if the English terms are correct, in German that would be 
"arglistiges Verschweigen von Mängeln bzw. grob fahrlässiges Handeln".)

For example, if you write a program that formats the user's disc on 
purpose, you are liable for this. If you write a program that formats 
the user's disc by accident and you know that this will happen, you 
are probably liable for this.

But you might get better answers by searching for "open source 
gewährleistungsausschluss" with your favorite search engine. This turn 
up for example: 
http://www.brennecke-partner.de/default.php?ID=13829&Navtyp=0&Open-Source-Einfuehrung---Teil-3-Haftungsrisiken-und-Lizenzmodelle

HTH, Markus