Copyright Assignment
Why?
All of the GNUe code is released under the GNU General
Public License
(GPL), a
strong
copyleft license. Unlike the licenses for many
proprietary software, this license does not seek to limit
thr freedom of the typical end-user to use the software.
It does, however, seek to prevent other developers
(ab-)using the code in a non-free way.
To protect the code, as a matter of policy, GNU Enterprise
asks all people who contribute to the GNUe code to sign a
copyright assignment, assigning copyright to the
Free Software Foundation (FSF). This applies to both
code and documentation. Note that this is a
non-exclusive assignment - you can still use the code
you have contributed for any other purpose.
We know that some other free software projects are
not as formal in requiring formal copyright assignment,
especially for minor patches. Their rationale is that,
by submitting a patch, the patch author is implicitly
assigning copyright on that patch to the authors of the
original code. Whilst we understand this position, we
prefer the legal certainty of a formal copyright
assignment.
In effect, you can look at copyright assignment as
being a way of sub-contracting your right to enforce
the GPL on your code to FSF. If the GPL on the GNUe
code ever needed to be upheld in court, it allows the
FSF to proceed against an alleged breach directly,
without the defendant being able to insist that each
and every person who ever contributed to the code be
involved in the case.
How?
If you are contributing code to GNUe for the first
time, you will need to e-mail us at
info@gnue.org,
giving your name and postal address. We will then
arrange for the FSF copyright custodian to send you
two copies of the standard copyright assignment form
by post. You'll need to sign both copies and send them
back. Once they have been signed by the FSF, one copy
will be sent back to you for your records. Depending on
postal delays to and from the FSF's home in Boston, USA
and your part of the world, the whole process can take
from a few days to a few weeks.
Your employer might have rights over your work
(for example, if you work on GNUe code as part of your
employment, but sometimes in other cases as well).
If so, we will need a copyright assignment
from them as well, using the same process. If you are
in any doubt on this, please ask. This will once again
be a non-exclusive assignment, so it would not prevent
your employer using the code you contributed for
anything else.
Because the copyright assignment is a legal document,
it therefore has to be signed 'conventionally' by both
parties to be valid. (This is the position in the United
States - where FSF is based). Therefore, we are unable
to do copyright assignments using e-mail and some form
of electronic signature such as
GPG - at the
moment, anyway.
Finally
We do appreciate that the need for copyright assignment
may seem like a bureaucratic obstacle, especially for
keen new developers eager to have their patches applied.
We hope that this helps to explains why we feel the need
to be so cautious. Rest assured that both the GNUe core
developers and the FSF will do everything they can to
make the process as smooth and quick as possible. If you
have any queries about the process, please contact us at
info@gnue.org.
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