Re: [gentoo-dev] Why should copyright assignment be a requirement?

[Luke-Jr <luke-jr@gentoo.org>]

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IIRC, the only reason one would need to own the copyright would be if the 
copyright were to be changed. Once something is licensed under the GPL, the 
owner cannot change the license on the one they released, only on future 
releases they make.

On Thursday 21 August 2003 04:17 am, Jon Portnoy wrote:
> On Thu, Aug 21, 2003 at 12:09:17AM -0400, Paul wrote:
> > 	Hi;
> >
> > 	A long while back, I asked if it was a requirement
> > for ebuild submiters to assign copyright. I was told
> > no, GPL license was entirely sufficient. I think this has
> > changed, or was untrue.
> > 	Now, Ive already given up on the submission
> > process, but I _am_ curious about this policy, as I
> > havent yet given up on Gentoo itself.
> >
> > Paul
> > set@pobox.com
>
> I would be very interested in hearing your issues with ebuild
> submission, if you'd like to contact me privately about it.
>
> With regards to copyrights, it's necessary for us to own copyright on
> ebuilds in order to defend our intellectual property. If we (Gentoo
> Technologies) don't own copyright on ebuilds (and other pieces of
> Gentoo), we have no legal leg to stand on if someone (for example)
> attempts to put a more restrictive license on that piece of intellectual
> property.
>
> In short: if we don't own copyright, we can't defend ourselves.

- -- 
Luke-Jr
Developer, Gentoo Linux
http://www.gentoo.org/
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