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The Law Governing OS Licences

Request for Inputs

While studying Software Delveopment on an OS Base, I noticed that some contracts which are used to licence Open Source software do not specify:
  • the governing law; and
  • the term and territory of the licence.
I was wondering whether anyone has conducted / is aware of any research on choice(s) of law in copyright contracts. I’m trying to understand what the proper law of such contracts would be if the governing law was not specified. I’m concerned because under Indian law, if the term and territory are not specified, a licence is deemed to be valid only for five years and only within the territory of India. The choice of law cases I'm aware of pertain primarily to shipping. (At this point, I'm focussing on contract interpretation and not on enforcement / anti-suit injunctions, etc. although I'd appreciate any references to allied subjects too.)

Thanks,
Nandita

(This post is by Nandita Saikia and was first published at Indian Copyright.)