From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (qmail 21070 invoked by alias); 4 Apr 2008 15:33:18 -0000 Received: (qmail 21061 invoked by uid 22791); 4 Apr 2008 15:33:17 -0000 X-Spam-Check-By: sourceware.org Received: from londo.lunn.ch (HELO londo.lunn.ch) (80.238.139.98) by sourceware.org (qpsmtpd/0.31) with ESMTP; Fri, 04 Apr 2008 15:33:00 +0000 Received: from lunn by londo.lunn.ch with local (Exim 3.36 #1 (Debian)) id 1JhnuQ-0001If-00; Fri, 04 Apr 2008 17:32:54 +0200 Date: Fri, 04 Apr 2008 15:45:00 -0000 From: Andrew Lunn To: Jiri Gaisler Cc: ecos-discuss@ecos.sourceware.org Message-ID: <20080404153254.GQ7929@lunn.ch> Mail-Followup-To: Jiri Gaisler , ecos-discuss@ecos.sourceware.org References: <20080403112347.68e481c9@kingfisher.sec.intern.logix-tt.com> <200804030937.m339bj00013603@mail168c2.megamailservers.com> <200804032050.20913.neundorf@kde.org> <200804032228.m33MSkCg027848@mail168c2.megamailservers.com> <20080404104457.35553e0a@kingfisher.sec.intern.logix-tt.com> <200804040912.m349CrYq028389@mail176c2.megamailservers.com> <20080404114231.7efcf59a@kingfisher.sec.intern.logix-tt.com> <47F5FC4A.2080401@gaisler.com> <20080404145330.GM7929@lunn.ch> <47F6450C.4090302@gaisler.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <47F6450C.4090302@gaisler.com> User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.17+20080114 (2008-01-14) X-IsSubscribed: yes Mailing-List: contact ecos-discuss-help@ecos.sourceware.org; run by ezmlm Precedence: bulk List-Id: List-Subscribe: List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: , Sender: ecos-discuss-owner@ecos.sourceware.org Subject: Re: [ECOS] Are copyright assignments detrimental to eCos? X-SW-Source: 2008-04/txt/msg00084.txt.bz2 O.K. Now it is getting time for the IANAL and everything i say is wrong until you hear it from a copyright lawyer... > So if I contribute code to the anoncvs, I assign the copyright to FSF. > If eCoscentric includes the code into eCos Pro, it will still bear the > FSF copyright. Correct. > If they then make a bug fix, any licensee of eCos Pro > should be able to submit the fix into anoncvs, since the copyright > is still with FSF and the code is still GPL. Have I got this right? Nope. They own the copyright to the bug fix. They have to contribute it to FSF/anoncvs. This is why i expect eCosPro code will have both copyright eCosCentric as well as Copyright FSF. They are stating they own some parts of the code. If you were to fix the bug, you could contribute it to FSF/anoncvs or eCosCentric. If you contribute it to FSF/anoncvs, eCosCentric can then pull it into their tree and keep the FSF copyright on your bug fix. > What I am trying to avoid is a fork of a potential contribution, > with one version in anoncvs and some other version in eCos Pro. Not possible, as far as i understand. Anybody can fork any GPL code. What you may be able to do though is claim the code contains patents or some other intellectual properly which needs a license and give away a free license for code in anoncvs only and anybody who wants to use the code outside of anoncvs needs to pay a billion dollar license fee for the patents. This probably doesn't hold water, since how do you define what anoncvs is.... So you definitely need to talk to a lawyer.... Andrew -- Before posting, please read the FAQ: http://ecos.sourceware.org/fom/ecos and search the list archive: http://ecos.sourceware.org/ml/ecos-discuss