Re: Contributor agreements and copyright assignment (was Re: Really, about udev, not init sytsems)
Ian Jackson <ijackson@chiark.greenend.org.uk> writes:
> Barry Warsaw writes ("Re: Contributor agreements and copyright assignment (was Re: Really, about udev, not init sytsems)"):
>> FTR: http://www.canonical.com/contributors
>
> That allows Canonical to make proprietary forks of the code (eg, to
> engage in the dual licensing business model). This is very
> troublesome for me; it's too asymmetric a relationship.
>
> This is a right that the FSF assignment doesn't give the FSF
IANAL, but I believe you are wrong there. You give them much wider
rights than this by assigning the copyright to the FSF. The copyright
owner is free to relicense the work in any way they want.
The rights transferred in the Canonical agreement are very limited
compared to this.
> and which the FSF wouldn't exercise even if they had it.
No, the current FSF wouldn't do that. But how about the company taking
over assets after the FSF lose a major lawsuit? That company will then
own the copyright on your work, including the rights to relicense it.
I still don't think issues like this should prevent anyone from
contributing to any currently open source project. Yes, it will be
frustrating if your work ends up being part of some proprietary
software, but it's even worse if you cannot contribute to these projects
out of fear of that happening.
BTW, never take any legal advice from me.
Bjørn
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