Abstract
Greece has not enacted special provisions on FOSS or other alternative licences. These licences may be included in the category of non-exclusive exploitation licenses regulated by Article 13 of Greek Law 2121/1993. As such, they are considered to be contracts. There can be a tacit or implied acceptance of FOSS licences through the mere use of a program. The writing requirement is applicable to FOSS licenses; however, nullity due to absence of the writing is invoked only by the author according to Article 14 of Greek Law 2121/1993. Alternative licenses may be considered as standard terms and conditions. Accordingly, they are subject to judicial control. The rules of consumer protection may also be applied in the sense that standard terms and conditions must be fair. For the protection and contractual exploitation of computer programs, the respective provisions of Greek copyright law are applied. The freedom to use that is granted by FOSS licenses is much broader than what is allowed under copyright law. Copyleft provisions may raise competitive issues if FOSS and alternative developments begin to dominate the market and right holders cannot find commercial options to exploit their IP. This is not the case in Greece.
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Notes
- 1.
The Greek legislator (Art. 32 par. 1 of Greek Law 2121/1993) has imposed the principle of author’s percentage fee with specific exceptions in certain cases, including where there is practical impossibility in establishing the basis for the calculation of a percentage fee, disproportional expenditure for the calculation and the monitoring, when the nature or the conditions of the exploitation make the implementation of a percentage calculation impossible. The percentage fee does not concern works created by employees in the execution of the employment contract, computer programs or advertissement in any form (Article 32 par. 2 of Greek Law 2121/1993). When granting users the facility to make use of works of the collectng societies repertoire, the collecting societies demand a percentage fee from the users according to article 32 par. 1 of Greek Law 2121/1993 (article 56 par. 1 of Greek law 2121/1993).
- 2.
In Greece the National Documentation Centre (EKT) supports the open access movement and the free availability of scientific publications. It was the first Greek Organization to sign the Berlin Declaration on Open Accesss to Knowledge in the Science and Humanities in 2003. For more information see www.epset.gr and www.ekt.gr.
- 3.
See HOMER Harmonizing open data in the Mediterranean through better access and Reuse of Public Sector Information, Socio-economic Impact study, Deloite, March 2013, Greece p. 59 ff.
- 4.
- 5.
For FOSS and alternative licenses in Greece see www.ellak.gr and www.creativecommons.gr.
- 6.
M. Stathopoulos, Contract Law in Hellas, (in English language), Kluver/Sakkoulas, 1995, p. 71.
- 7.
M.Stathopoulos, ibid, p. 74.
- 8.
M. Stathopoulos, ibid, p. 75.
- 9.
M.Stathopoulos, ibid. p. 44. V.Saliaris-E.Armata, Consumer Protection Regulations, http://greeklawdigest.gr.
- 10.
L.Kotsiris, Greek Copyright Law, (in English language), IUS 2012, p. 157–160.
- 11.
G.Koumantos, Copyright, A.Sakkoulas 1991, 5th edition, p. 57 and 169.
- 12.
Court of Appeal of Athens 7545/1982 Elliniki Dikaiosyni (Greek Legal Journal) 1982, p. 612–613.
- 13.
See Question 3 of section “Copyright law”.
- 14.
Court of Appeal of Athens 4499/2000 Kritiki Epitheorisi 2001, p. 253–268.
- 15.
M.Stathopoulos, ibid. p. 111.
- 16.
See also District Court of Munich 19 May 2004; Till Jaeger, Enforcement of the GNU GPL in Germany and Europe, 1(2010)JIPITEC 34 ARA. 1 P. 37.
- 17.
See Articles 12–17 and 40–45 of Greek Law 2121/1993.
- 18.
Articles 40–45 of Greek Law 2121/1993.
- 19.
L.Kotsiris, ibid, p. 159.
- 20.
See Question 6 of “Contract law”.
- 21.
Regarding the right of rescission see L.Kotsiris,ibid, p. 111–113. D.Kallinikou-L.Athanassiou-C.Chrissanthis, Intellectual Property in Greece, (in English language), Kluwer Law International, 2014 , 110–112.
References
D. Kallinikou-L. Athanassiou-C. Chrissanthis, Intellectual Property in Greece, (in English language), Kluwer Law International, 2014.
L. Kotsiris, Greek Copyright Law, (in English language), IUS 2012.
G. Koumantos, Copyright, A.Sakkoulas 1991, 5th edition (in Greek language).
M. Stathopoulos, Contract Law in Hellas, (in English language), Kluver/Sakkoulas, 1995.
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Kallinikou, D. (2016). License Contracts, Free Software and Creative Commons in Greece. In: Metzger, A. (eds) Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) and other Alternative License Models. Ius Comparatum - Global Studies in Comparative Law, vol 12. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-21560-0_11
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