Legality of &quot;Version x or later&quot; licenses
<p>A standard way to license something under the GPL, is to grant a license to the "GPL version 3 or later", meaning that the recipient receives a license under the license terms of the GPLv3, or at their choice any later version of the GPL.</p>

<p>I have been told that in the EU, or at least Germany this is impossible because the license constitutes a contract, and it's not lawful to enter into a contract that has terms that are unknown to you at the time of entering it. Is this correct?</p>

<p>The terms are known - GPL version 3 or later. Just write it a bit more complicated: "I hereby sell you the software X. You are allowed to use the software under the terms of the GPL license version 3. I have the right to change the license terms, at any time and repeatedly, to the terms of a later version of the GPL license". </p>

<p>So everything is absolutely known and fine. </p>

licensing european-union