From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: David Kastrup Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: The copyright issue Date: Mon, 09 Aug 2010 10:28:54 +0200 Organization: Organization?!? Message-ID: <87aaow8a0p.fsf@lola.goethe.zz> References: <19546.32875.515000.117266@gargle.gargle.HOWL> <19549.44879.848292.639521@rgr.rgrjr.com> <19549.49818.270000.981978@gargle.gargle.HOWL> <19549.61887.613440.141458@rgr.rgrjr.com> <8762zkl259.fsf@uwakimon.sk.tsukuba.ac.jp> NNTP-Posting-Host: lo.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Trace: dough.gmane.org 1281342562 10136 80.91.229.12 (9 Aug 2010 08:29:22 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@dough.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 9 Aug 2010 08:29:22 +0000 (UTC) To: emacs-devel@gnu.org Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Mon Aug 09 10:29:20 2010 Return-path: Envelope-to: ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([199.232.76.165]) by lo.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1OiNjU-00077n-0Y for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Mon, 09 Aug 2010 10:29:20 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1]:56333 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1OiNjT-0000ar-9h for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Mon, 09 Aug 2010 04:29:19 -0400 Original-Received: from [140.186.70.92] (port=52750 helo=eggs.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1OiNjK-0000ad-PU for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 09 Aug 2010 04:29:11 -0400 Original-Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1OiNjI-0008SA-B6 for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 09 Aug 2010 04:29:10 -0400 Original-Received: from lo.gmane.org ([80.91.229.12]:48325) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1OiNjI-0008Rf-13 for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 09 Aug 2010 04:29:08 -0400 Original-Received: from list by lo.gmane.org with local (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1OiNjE-000729-Rh for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 09 Aug 2010 10:29:04 +0200 Original-Received: from p508ec0ba.dip.t-dialin.net ([80.142.192.186]) by main.gmane.org with esmtp (Gmexim 0.1 (Debian)) id 1AlnuQ-0007hv-00 for ; Mon, 09 Aug 2010 10:29:04 +0200 Original-Received: from dak by p508ec0ba.dip.t-dialin.net with local (Gmexim 0.1 (Debian)) id 1AlnuQ-0007hv-00 for ; Mon, 09 Aug 2010 10:29:04 +0200 X-Injected-Via-Gmane: http://gmane.org/ Original-Lines: 33 Original-X-Complaints-To: usenet@dough.gmane.org X-Gmane-NNTP-Posting-Host: p508ec0ba.dip.t-dialin.net X-Face: 2FEFf>]>q>2iw=B6, xrUubRI>pR&Ml9=ao@P@i)L:\urd*t9M~y1^:+Y]'C0~{mAl`oQuAl \!3KEIp?*w`|bL5qr,H)LFO6Q=qx~iH4DN; i"; /yuIsqbLLCh/!U#X[S~(5eZ41to5f%E@'ELIi$t^ Vc\LWP@J5p^rst0+('>Er0=^1{]M9!p?&:\z]|;&=NP3AhB!B_bi^]Pfkw User-Agent: Gnus/5.13 (Gnus v5.13) Emacs/24.0.50 (gnu/linux) Cancel-Lock: sha1:weCDoAqCqdvl1+CtV9lGgg2ifMo= X-detected-operating-system: by eggs.gnu.org: GNU/Linux 2.6 (newer, 3) X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: "Emacs development discussions." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Original-Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:128457 Archived-At: "Stephen J. Turnbull" writes: > rogers-emacs@rgrjr.dyndns.org writes: > > > If it is indeed GPL software. IIRC, somebody once contributed code > > that his employer later claimed was not his to contribute. Having > > clear ownership avoids such hassles. > > The assignment has nothing to do with that, however. What's necessary > in that case is not an assignment by the author, but a disclaimer of > interest (ownership) by the employer. The assignment makes the author responsible for the legal status of his contributions. Including clearing up any ownership issues. > All in all, the assignment policy can't be justified as a matter of > "prudence". The assignment itself only minimally decreases the risk > of unclear ownership to the project. I think it significantly reduces the risk of an FSF claim being thrown out of court because of "dirty hands". If they have a contractual assurance that the code was free from rights of third persons, that's certainly helpful even where the other party in the conflict is not the contributor himself. > The employer disclaimers are important for risk management, And the FSF certainly can't figure out the details of employment for every contributor. The assignment makes the contributor accountable for doing a best-faith effort. -- David Kastrup