Which license to use?

[Eric Renaud]

Matthew Flaschen wrote:
> David Woolley wrote:
>   
>>> they must be assigned (possibly jointly) to the company; following the
>>>       
>> I've never heard of joint assignments.  I think you would definitely need
>> a lawyer, and probably an accountant, in that case.  My guess is that, in 
>> the UK, the result would actually be that the license was assigned to 
>> a trust with both parties as trustees.
>>     
>
> Hmm, that's interesting.  IANAL, but in the U.S. I'm fairly certain that
> JCA's are legal (Sun and others have been using similar forms for a long
> time).  Obviously, consult a lawyer to figure out how to create one.
> The idea of an automatic trust seems kind of strange to me, kind of like
> an anonymous function.  In the U.S. I think you need to file paperwork
> to create any kind of trust.
>
>   
Very common and quite legal.  A JCA protects the users IP rights 
entirely while also protecting
the steward of the mass of contibuted/donated code at the same time.  
Moreover it also serves to
protect the end users and developers from random copyright changes by 
any given contributor
in an extended queue of folks.  The ability for the single entity to 
administer such changes
effectively protects the project as a whole - given the implied trust in 
that entity:  But just
imagine the bad press and ill-will such an entity would incur if it were 
to subvert the will
and want of the Community as a whole with any changes veering from the 
Free and Open
Source mentality.  (I'd quit and send a huge flying bird . . .)

For an example see:  http://www.openoffice.org/licenses/jca.pdf  
(Community Approved)
along with the FAQ - 
http://www.openoffice.org/FAQs/faq-licensing.html#usinglicenses

This JCA has been found acceptable to well over 700 signatories - which is
really quite amazing when one considers the context of Open Source 
project contributions.

Of course you'll want to consult with an attorney for your own . . .






> Matthew Flaschen
>
>
>   
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