The GPL prevails: An analysis of the first-ever Court decision on the validity and effectivity of the GPL

Abstract

After many years of mostly academic debate about the legal character of the GNU General Public License (GPL) as well as its validity and enforceability, a Munich District Court issued the first-ever judgement dealing with a number of topics in the centre of the discussion. This paper outlines the facts of the case as well as the ratio decidendi of the Court. In addition, it aims to identify and comment on the questions of law underlying the decision.