Editing CeCILL (section)

== Terms ==

The CeCILL grants users the right to copy, modify, and distribute the licensed software freely. It defines the rights as passing from the copyright holder to a "Licensor", which may be the copyright holder or a further distributor, to the user or "Licensee". Like the GPL, it requires that modifications to the software be distributed under the CeCILL, but it makes no claim to work that executes in "separate address spaces", which may be licensed under terms of the licensee's choice. It does not grant a patent license (as some other common open-source licenses do), but rather includes a promise by the licensor not to enforce any patents it owns. In Article 9.4, the licensor agrees to provide "technical and legal assistance" if litigation regarding the software is brought against the licensee, though the extent of the assistance "shall be decided on a case-by-case basis...pursuant to a memorandum of understanding".

The disclaimers of warranty and liability are written in a manner different from other common open-source licenses to comply with French law.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://cecill.info/faq.en.html#pourquoi-cecill |title=Cecill Faq |website=Cecill.info |date= |access-date=2023-02-10}}</ref> The CeCILL does not preclude the licensor from offering a warranty or technical support for its software, but requires that such services be negotiated in a separate agreement.

The license is compatible with the GPL through an explicit relicensing clause.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html#CeCILL|title=Various Licenses and Comments about Them|publisher=GNU Project - Free Software Foundation|access-date=10 February 2023}}</ref>

Article 13's explicit reference to French law and a French court does not limit users, who can still choose a jurisdiction of their choice by mutual agreement to solve any litigation they may experience. The explicit reference to a French court will be used only if mutual agreement is not possible; this immediately solves the problem of competence of laws (something that the GPL does not solve cleanly, except when all parties in litigation are in the USA).