Copyright Assignment question

Copyright Assignment question

[Thorsten Glaser]

Hello!

http://www.fsf-europe.org/projects/fla/FLA-1.0.de.pdf

This is (apparently) the equivalent of the copyright assignment
form for European citizens (cf.
http://www.fsf-europe.org/projects/fla/fla.en.html); I'd like
to know if that's enough if one wants to contribute code to
FSF software (for example a new port for binutils).

Thanks in advance,
//Thorsten (MirOS BSD head developer)

PS: Please do Cc: me (or the miros-dev list) on replies, thanks.
-- 
Currently blocking eMail from the following domains: bigpond.com, biz, gmx.de,
gmx.net, hotmail.com, info, jumpy.it, libero.it, name, netscape.net,
postino.it, simplesnet.pt, spymac.com, tatanova.com, tiscali.co.uk,
tiscali.cz, tiscali.de, tiscali.it, voila.fr, yahoo.co.uk, yahoo.com.

Re: Copyright Assignment question

[James E Wilson]

On Thu, 2004-09-09 at 00:35, Thorsten Glaser wrote:
> This is (apparently) the equivalent of the copyright assignment
> form for European citizens

I can't speak for FSF Europe policy.

For FSF policy in the US, putting copyright assignment forms on the web
is strongly discouraged.  The FSF has had too much trouble with people
sending in the wrong form, forms with wrong info on them, etc.  There
are multiple forms for different situations: contributing a single
patch, contributing all patches for one package, contributing an entire
new package, contributing patches written by an individual, contributing
patches written by a corporation. etc.  So FSF policy is that you first
contact the copyright clerk, give them info on what is being
contributed, then they fill out the proper form and snail mail it to
you.  You sign it, and snail mail it back to them.  Then the FSF signs
it, and snail mails the doubly signed version back to you.  This only
takes a few weeks if all goes well, and a few months if things go
poorly.

See
    http://gcc.gnu.org/ml/gcc/2003-06/msg02298.html
for a sample form to fill out and send in to the FSF copyright clerk in
order to get started.

It is probably best if you use the standard FSF forms, even though a
copyright assignment is not legal in Germany.  It is legal in the US,
which is what the FSF cares about.

If you want, you could try asking the FSF copyright clerk if the FSF
Europe forms are acceptable.
-- 
Jim Wilson, GNU Tools Support, http://www.SpecifixInc.com

Re: Copyright Assignment question

[Thorsten Glaser]

Dixitur illum wilson@specifixinc.com scribere...

>I can't speak for FSF Europe policy.

Since I'd like to feed back my diffs to binutils (and maybe gcc and
other software we use in MirOS), which is (c) FSF USA, I think that
is what matters.

[...]
>patches written by a corporation. etc.  So FSF policy is that you first
>contact the copyright clerk, give them info on what is being
>contributed, then they fill out the proper form and snail mail it to
[...]

Thanks for the information, I'll do that.

>It is probably best if you use the standard FSF forms, even though a
>copyright assignment is not legal in Germany.  It is legal in the US,
>which is what the FSF cares about.

This is, however, unacceptable as I'm very reluctant, for certain
reasons, to put myself under USA law.

>If you want, you could try asking the FSF copyright clerk if the FSF
>Europe forms are acceptable.

I'll do that then. Again, thanks for the fast and informative answer.

bye,
//Thorsten
-- 
Currently blocking eMail from the following domains: bigpond.com, biz, gmx.de,
gmx.net, hotmail.com, info, jumpy.it, libero.it, name, netscape.net,
postino.it, simplesnet.pt, spymac.com, tatanova.com, tiscali.co.uk,
tiscali.cz, tiscali.de, tiscali.it, voila.fr, yahoo.co.uk, yahoo.com.

Re: Copyright Assignment question

[Nick Clifton]

Hi Thorsten,

>>I can't speak for FSF Europe policy.

Neither can I, but I know a man who can...

>>It is probably best if you use the standard FSF forms, even though a
>>copyright assignment is not legal in Germany.  It is legal in the US,
>>which is what the FSF cares about.

> This is, however, unacceptable as I'm very reluctant, for certain
> reasons, to put myself under USA law.

I put your original question to the FSF Copyright Clerk.  This was his 
response:

: I took your question to our Executive Director. The FLA is a new
: assignment document. Our Executive Director and the President of FSF
: Europe have been and are discussing the implementation of the FLA. This
: matter should be decided in a timely fashion, at which point I will let
: you know more. Thus, for the time being if the person wants to assign,
: they should use the standard procedure.

So for now you have two choices - use the standard, US based procedure, 
or wait until the FSF resolves the issue and then, depending upon their 
resolution, decide what to do.

Cheers
   Nick

Re: Copyright Assignment question

[Thorsten Glaser]

Nick Clifton dixit:

> So for now you have two choices - use the standard, US based procedure, or wait

Yes, I did so, I got an answer from the FSF Copyright whatever.

bye,
//mirabile