Re: [DotGNU]Copyright waivers for developers?

[Barry Fitzgerald]

Bill White wrote:
> 
> On Fri, Aug 10, 2001 at 04:32:28PM +0200, Norbert Bollow wrote:
> > > Bill White wrote:
> > > >
> > > > Is this likely to be a feature of DotGNU?  I don't see how the
> > > > dotgnu project can succeed if you require all your developers to
> > > > choose between contributing and being employed.
> >
> > There's always the option of being self-employed, or starting a
> > self-corporation and employing yourself.
> 
> I don't think it matters.  If you are associated in any way, either
> as a consultant, a student or an employee, with any organization
> not the FSF you have to have a copyright waiver for your work to
> appear in FSF projects.
> 
> I take it from your comments that the copyright waivers will
> be required.  That means effectively that you are only interested
> in contributions from people who are unemployed.  That seems
> curious, but I suppose it's your game, and you can play it
> how you wish.
> 
> I'm willing to take the risk that my employer will not sue me
> individually.  My employer supports free sw - our customers
> depend on it, and we have to use it.  People in my company
> have contributed to the Linux kernel, which requires no such
> copyright.  There ought to be some way that somebody could
> contribute pieces on their own hook, and let the user
> or the installer program incorporate them.  That is to
> say, the installer program could get some DotGNU components
> from SourceForge, some from the other repository, and
> some from other places around the net.


It's irrelivent because it all goes into a GNU project in the first
place.  The onus doesn't fall on you, it falls on the maintainers.  Btw,
the reasoning for the waivers, etc... is for indeminification purposes
and assignment is for the ability to defend the GNU GPL.  Unless there
are clear descendancies of copyright ownership - the defense of the code
can be problematic.  The fact that people can work on the Linux kernel
without any legal issues being brought up is actually an oversight of
the kernel people.  We're currently working on a way to handle these
issues.  

Because of the fact that Microsoft may attack us legally, we're forced
to defend our developers, part of that defense is through some form of
copyright assignment.

The employment issue is not an issue at all.  I'm employed - my employer
doesn't control my life - nor would I let it.  

There's a problem with your assessment in the fact that you're assessing
all of your work as an agent of your employer.  If you intend on working
on DotGNU at work, then that's true.  If you work on it at home, you can
choose to indemnify your employer by stating that you're not acting as
an agent of your employer.  However, if your employer has jurisdiction
over what you do at home, I strongly urge you to reconsider the fact
that they have that power over you.

If there is a way to get around this legally, first we need to know
EXACTLY which issues your employer has a problem with.  Then we need
some kind of solution.  If you write code for us, and don't assign your
copyright - MS may in fact sue you or your employer.  The assignment
issues are for your own protection and for the protection of your
employer at this point.  

However, I urge you not to pass judgement on this issue at this point,
these legal issues are still being examined and there will be an
announcement concerning them shortly.

We'd love to just say "everyone, please just work on anything - no
strings attached"... That's our way... However, the legal system we
exist in doesn't allow this to happen and at the same time allow us to
protect our freedom.

        -Barry