K pojetí veřejných licencí v NOZ

Abstract

The recent public debate on the Czech version of the new Creative Commons 4.0 public license has seen a discussion, mainly led by Telec and Husovec that has shaken the very foundations of public licenses. In their discussion, both jurists have raised serious questions, concerning the nature of a public license – whether it is a contract, or simply an expression of consent. Their main arguments were concerned with the right to share the licensed works, the need to bind other licensors to the original license terms, liability issues and mainly tax issues. I have attempted to briefly introduce the public licenses and both views of the issue. Then, I have addressed each of the four main topics separately. For each topic, I have introduced the basic underlying concept, its legal reasoning and importance in the public licenses environment then described both of the views, contractual and consensual. With this background, I have tried to find the best solution to the given issue, also testing it for further possible weak points. Both of the views were compared and the better fitting solution was indicated. The outcome of the article is, that I have found solutions for all the described issues within the contractual framework, which proved to fit the public licensing scheme better. However, I have also proved that the consensual framework is feasible in some cases, while identifying its weak points.