[License-discuss] FAQ entry on CLAs

[jonathon]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

On 16/01/15 13:48, Engel Nyst wrote:

> It says "many" open source projects use these agreements. I have to
> dispute the implied suggestion that there are more than not.

For some licenses, if you want to contribute back any changes you made
to the source code, CLAs are so common that one might think that they
are mandatory.

For other licenses, it is as if CLAs are a foreign concept that nobody
has ever heard of, much less used.

> But an open source license does this: by licensing their modification under the license of the project, 
developers tell the project that it has the right to distribute those
modifications under the project's existing open source license.

YOu have to look at the reasons why the organization is requesting the CLA:
* With some licenses, the point of the CLA appears to ensure that the
alleged open source program remains a tightly controlled proprietary
software that is distributed commercially;
* With some licenses, the point of the CLA appears to be able to enforce
copyright, when there are license violations;

> Does this mean that the entity behind the project /wants/ to license under other licenses than the open source license of the project,
or does it suggest that the project /needs/ CLAs to do its incorporation
and distribution of code under the open source license it has?

Some organizations use the CLA so that the open source code can be
relicensed as closed source.
Some organizations use the CLA so that when license violations are
found, if the violator refuses to correct the problem, pursuing legal
remedies is much easier.

>The ambiguity has the effect of implying the second and obscuring the
first.
That ambiguity is why OSI should not even mention CLAs.

jonathon
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1
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=cRdD
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----