Re: Copyright/Distribution questions (Emacs/Orgmode)

[Christian Egli <christian.egli@sbs.ch>]

The following message is a courtesy copy of an article
that has been posted to gmane.emacs.devel as well.

Jambunathan K <kjambunathan@gmail.com> writes:

> I would like to withdraw my pleasure in having these files distributed
> as part of Org distribution.

These files have been published under the GNU GPL[1] which gives
everybody the right to modify and redistribute them as long as they
comply with the GNU GPL. In other words the current maintainer has every
right to include these files in any further release of orgmode.

> More specifically, I would like to know how copyright assignment works
> for files that are not yet part of Emacs.  

The copyright assignment is solely for the purpose of having one
copyright owner. This helps for legal disputes and to change the
license. However it is not needed for redistribution purposes, i.e. it
gives you no legal recourse to stop redistribution of these files. Once
you have published them under GNU GPL (and you have) everybody
(including the current maintainer of orgmode) has the four freedoms that
come with the GNU GPL[2] namely

> the freedom to use the software for any purpose,
> the freedom to change the software to suit your needs,
> the freedom to share the software with your friends and neighbors, and
> the freedom to share the changes you make.

Again IANAL, but then the GNU GPL is pretty clear about this.

Hope this helps
Christian

Footnotes: 
[1]  on mailing lists and in the git repo of orgmode
[2]  http://www.gnu.org/licenses/quick-guide-gplv3.html
-- 
Christian Egli
Swiss Library for the Blind, Visually Impaired and Print Disabled
Grubenstrasse 12, CH-8045 Zürich, Switzerland

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