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On 11/18/2012 09:58 PM, Greg KH wrote: |
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> On Sun, Nov 18, 2012 at 07:06:50AM -0500, Rich Freeman wrote: |
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>> COPYRIGHT |
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>> |
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>> I think this issue is best dealt with on the side - it has no bearing |
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>> on any of the really contentious points here. |
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>> |
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>> I note that the owners of the copyright on udev have announced to the |
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>> world that (emphasis mine): |
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>> You may modify your copy or copies of the Library or ANY PORTION OF |
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>> IT, thus forming a work based on the Library, and copy and distribute |
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>> such modifications or work under the terms of Section 1 above, |
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>> provided that you also meet all of these conditions... |
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>> |
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>> None of those conditions included keeping the copyright line intact. |
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> |
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> True, but removing a copyright line doesn't change the real copyright of |
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> a file, although it is generally considered something that you really |
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> should not do at all (see your local copyright laws/rules for details.) |
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> |
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>> Anybody can therefore alter the copyright line as they wish, as they |
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>> have been given explicit permission to do so. They need only comply |
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>> with the other terms in the LGPL to do so (the most important being |
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>> licensing it under the LGPL and making the source available. |
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> |
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> Heh, wait, no, you can not do that. You can not modify a copyright line |
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> to add your own, without first doing one of the two things I discussed |
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> in the beginning. Otherwise, don't you think that all of those big |
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> companies that are using Linux and other open source projects would have |
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> done something like this already? |
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> |
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>> In fact, (L)GPL v3 has an optional attribution clause, and the fact |
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>> that they made this explicit is because some projects might not want |
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>> to give out this authorization. |
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> |
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> Changing the lines in the comment block in the code files is not what |
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> attribution clauses are about at all. |
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> |
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> I could go into details about copyright, and how it works, and how you |
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> need to treat it if you are a programmer, but I'm not a lawyer, and the |
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> rules are different in different countries and even states. |
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> |
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> I have, however, worked with a very large number of lawyers, and |
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> companies, and have the basics down, and none of what you say above is |
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> really allowed at all, sorry. |
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> |
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> Also note, if you just remove code from a file, you don't get copyright |
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> of the file, which is a fun thing to think about if you are trying to |
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> remove features from a product, or doing 'git revert' of specific |
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> patchsets. |
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> |
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>> So, if you want an official ruling from the trustees we would need to |
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>> meet/vote on it and perhaps discuss with counsel, but my thinking is |
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>> that anybody distributing work under the (L)GPL has waived their right |
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>> to be named on the copyright line of any copies distributed by others, |
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> |
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> Again, no, this is flat out not right. Please discuss with counsel if |
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> you disagree and they can go into the details. |
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> |
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>> and as far as I can tell I have found nothing to the contrary from any |
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>> authoritative source. |
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> |
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> Talk to a copyright lawyer please. I'm sure there is one that the |
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> Foundation uses, right? |
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> |
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>> Again, that's my two cents and not a license for anybody to do |
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>> anything. This topic did come up recently with regard to accepting |
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>> some other kind of outside work into Gentoo, and as I recall there was |
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>> some debate over whether the copyright notices could be changed. I'd |
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>> have to dig up the details - I think the issue might have been mooted |
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>> before any kind of formal decision was reached... |
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> |
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> I think this is something that the Foundation's counsel better get set |
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> up properly, as it really is a big deal, and can come back to cause big |
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> problems if done wrong. I say this as someone who has been part of |
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> lawsuits dealing with this type of thing, and as someone who has worked |
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> with lawyers on copyright issues for open source projects for a very |
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> long time[1]. |
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> |
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> But as always, talk to a lawyer, I suggest that the Foundation do this |
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> to set up the proper guidelines and rules that all Gentoo developers |
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> need to follow. That will clear all of this confusion up properly. |
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> |
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> thanks, |
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> |
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> greg k-h |
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|
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We develop open source software in public repositories. A developer |
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decided it would be helpful to change the software name systemd to |
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eudev, among other things, in various files after misunderstanding what |
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the Foundation officers in charge of legal matters had approved. You |
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objected to it. I asked for clarification after seeing that your name |
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had not been removed from any copyright notices. You explained your |
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complaint. I asked you to wait for the person who wrote the commit to |
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fix it. It was fixed. |
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|
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That is all that was necessary. Whining on the list did not wake the |
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author of that commit sooner. Furthermore, the changes that you wanted |
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would have been made in a few days had you not become involved. |