Gentoo Archives: gentoo-project

From: Sarah White <kuzetsa@××××××××××.ovh>
To: gentoo-project@l.g.o
Subject: Re: [gentoo-project] rfc: copyright attribution clarifications
Date: Sun, 25 Nov 2018 01:09:32
Message-Id: 8ea407dd-9fe4-3623-0509-5315cc5d045b@poindexter.ovh
In Reply to: Re: [gentoo-project] rfc: copyright attribution clarifications by Ulrich Mueller
1 On 11/24/18 6:11 PM, Ulrich Mueller wrote:
2 >>>>>> On Sat, 24 Nov 2018, Alec Warner wrote:
3 >
4 >> The crux of the argument is about the maintenance of these copyright
5 >> notices; not about the bytes they occupy or the CPU time spend reading
6 >> them.
7 >
8 >> - When is it allowed to add extra notices?
9 >> - When is it allowed to remove extra notices?
10 >
11 >> This is ultimately the problem I think we see with the SEI
12 >> attribution. We don't understand *why* Sony wants the notice there and
13 >> because of that we don't understand the answers to the above.
14 >
15 > We don't understand it because they refuse to give us an explanation.
16 > Which is not our fault.
17 >
18 >> What I want to avoid happening is getting sued by Sony because the
19 >> notices were added and then later removed; but we have not received
20 >> guidance on this and I think it blocks us moving forward.
21 >
22 > I don't see anything in the GPL-2 that would prevent us from removing
23 > redundant copyright notices.
24 >
25
26 The better question - why should things be copyrighted,
27 and then made available under a FOSS/Libre license, and
28 why is this different than public domain without any
29 copyright protection of any kind?
30
31 ---
32
33 On the topic of copyleft / copyright, as outlined by
34 the free software foundation... dot dot dot
35
36 https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/categories.html#FSF-CopyrightedGNUSoftware
37
38 ["The developers of GNU packages can transfer the copyright
39 to the FSF, or they can keep it. The choice is theirs."]
40
41 ["If they have transferred the copyright to the FSF, the
42 program is FSF-copyrighted GNU software, and the FSF can
43 enforce its license. If they have kept the copyright,
44 enforcing the license is their responsibility."]
45
46 ["The FSF does not accept copyright assignments of
47 software that is not an official GNU package, as a rule."]
48
49 ---
50
51 Does gentoo have a legal team or policy in place to protect
52 copyleft-type legal interests against license infringers?
53
54 I'm not aware of anyone in this thread (or related ones)
55 who is claiming gentoo should have copyright assignment,
56 and a gentoo copyright notice will have teeth behind it,
57 and if anyone infringes on FOSS/Libre licenses on anything
58 which has a gentoo copyright, then there will be a legal
59 response from the committee / project / team in charge of
60 looking after the FOSS/Libre interests of anything under
61 the umbrella of gentoo's copyrights. Then again...
62
63 One could argue gentoo hasn't pledged to defend the license
64 for FOSS/Libre code, and could end up being less effective
65 than letting the contributing company/entity/person decide
66 for themselves if they'd rather maintain their own teeth.
67
68 Toothless copyleft / copyright is as weak as public domain.
69
70 I believe if sony is committing to release something under
71 a FOSS/Libre/copyleft-type license, they should be able
72 to thow their own legal team behind it. I don't represent
73 sony, but I know that's my own intent since I know what my
74 own intentions are when I attach a copyleft-type license
75 to my own work.
76
77 -- kuza

Replies

Subject Author
Re: [gentoo-project] rfc: copyright attribution clarifications Rich Freeman <rich0@g.o>