Constitutional affairs legal affairs

Workshop: Legal aspects of free and open source software 
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development costs by sharing and reusing software, contracting authorities must obtain 
from their suppliers the right, not only to use but also preserve their rights to redistribute 
the developed software in the future, as the case may be (i.e. in case the development is 
successful, interesting for other stakeholders, and if a sharing decision is taken by the 
authorities).  
Therefore, suppliers must not only give the “property” of the solution (including the 
software code), but must also grant that it can be legally distributed to third parties by the 
contracting authority, without any copyright issue or licence conflicts (in case several 
components of the solution were obtained under non-compatible FOSS licences) and royalty 
free (in case some proprietary standard or patents were implemented). 
Example of such provision:  
“The supplier will grant that the purchasing authority has the right to distribute the 
delivered application under the European Union Public Licence (EUPLv1.1 or later) or 
any licence(s) providing the rights stated in the article 2 of the EUPL.”  
A reference to the EUPL is especially convenient due to its multi-lingual validity: it can be 
part of specifications written in any language of the EU. 
1.6.
 
The EUPL v1.2 
The most recent evolution is the EUPL v1.2 drafted at the beginning of 2013 and is planned 
to be published in June or July 2013. This version is very similar to the previous v 1.1 
(which can still be used), but presents the following differences: 

 
The terminology is adapted in consideration of the Lisbon Treaty (mainly the name 
of EU institutions, references to the TFEU); 

 
The licence covers “the Work” (which can be software, but also any other kind of 
copyrighted work: data, specifications, documentation etc.); 

 
The scope of possible “additional agreements” is enlarged (i.e. they may cover 
jurisdiction and any other provisions, in so far as the granted rights are not 
restricted); 

 
The list of compatible licences is extended to licences published after the initial 
EUPL: GNU GPLv3, AGPLv3, MPLv2 etc.
 
 
2.
 
RIGHTS GRANTED TO RECIPIENTS BY THE EUPL 
 
KEY FINDINGS 

 
Rights granted to recipients are the rights granted by all (certified) FOSS licences. 

 
In addition, these rights must be royalty free. 
 
 
 
According to article 2 of the EUPL, the rights granted to the recipients of the covered 
software (or, under EUPL v1.2, Work) constitute a world-wide, royalty-free, non-exclusive 
licence to: 
• 
use the Work in any circumstance and for all usage, 
• 
reproduce the Work, 
• 
modify the Original Work, and make Derivative Works, 
• 
communicate to the public, including the right to make available or display the Work 
or copies thereof to the public and perform it publicly, 

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Policy Department C: Citizens' Rights and Constitutional Affairs 
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• 
distribute the Work or copies thereof, 
• 
lend and rent the Work or copies thereof, 
• 
sub-license rights in the Work or copies thereof. 
No type of activity (i.e. commercial use) is prohibited by the EUPL: any enterprise can use 
the covered work for its commercial activities. 
One may sell software or works covered by the EUPL and related services at a determined 
price (i.e. a lump sum representing a participation to the development costs of a standard 
or of a software, a maintenance fee for support services etc.), but once this is done, the 
covered work cannot be subject to the management of royalties (i.e. a fee – even small or 
reasonable - per use or per user). This is because the fundamental principle of FOSS is the 
freedom granted to all possible recipients in the world to make derivative works and to 
redistribute such works to anyone, making the “control” of the use and the management of 
royalties impossible. 
Therefore, if software developers, standard developing organisations (SDO) or patent 
owners may cover their costs by adopting a FRAND (fair reasonable and non discriminating) 
licensing policy for using their work in proprietary implementations, they should also adopt 
a second (dual) royalty free licensing policy (like the EUPL) if they don’t want to see their 
standard or specification totally ignored by FOSS implementations. This would not be 
discriminatory against non-FOSS (or proprietary) implementations, as FOSS is not a group, 
a product or a technology, but a legal regime that anyone may adopt. 
Concerning the use of patents, the same article 2 states that the EUPL licensor grants to 
the recipient of the work a royalty-free, non exclusive usage rights to any patents held by 
the licensor, to the extent necessary to make use of the rights granted on the work 
distributed under the EUPL licence. 
 
3.
 
WHAT MAKES THE EUPL SPECIFIC? 
 
KEY POINTS 

 
The EUPL is the sole FOSS licence working in 22 languages (more will be added). 

 
At the contrary of other licences, the EUPL specifies an explicit warranty that 
contributors have copyright on their contributions. 

 
A single jurisdiction (the CJEU) could be requested to interpret the EUPL and 
copyright law in case of legal problems / litigation. 

 
A unique, variable "copyleft" applies, in order to ensure interoperability.
 
 
 
The EUPL is specific and different from all other FOSS licences on a number of points: 
•
 
Multilingualism:  
This point is the most visible: like many other European Union legal instruments, the 
EUPL is available in 22 languages. Gaelic and Croatian version still have to be 
published. 
•
 
Terminology 
The EUPL is drafted to work under European Law, even if it may be used outside the 
European Union and submitted to third country courts. Relevant provisions applie to 
the copyright terminology (the “communication to the public”), to the reasonable 
limitation of liability, to the reference to European treaties. 
 

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