I think you're right to be concerned. I remember when Apple did this with their online iDisk accounts and Yahoo with their Geocities accounts. In all these cases we can guess that the intent is that they just need to have the right to copy and redistribute the material which is the purpose of the DevEx. But the problems arise with the phrases "perpetual", "irrevocable", and "modify". I'll leave "create derivative works" up to the jury here though in my opinion it's pretty significant.
A basic tenet of copyright law is that the creator is granted automatic copyright. The submission requirements you pointed out appear to do more than just grant a limited right to copy to Macromedia for the purposes of operating the DevEx. It appears that agreeing to them constitutes a complete signing over of copyright ownership to Macromedia. That means they can call it their own and resell it at a profit without recompensing you. They can even integrate it into their own products without recompense. The question is how much of that is the purpose of the DevEx? We all use it to help our own projects, and MM shouldn't be any different. However, it seems to me that MM is in a somewhat unique position by having the ability to integrate submissions into products like Dreamweaver. Is there a difference though between keeping the code and ownership intact and bundling it or the alternative of taking the code concepts and creating a derivative work they call their own and make a profit on? The community persuaded Apple to change their policy. It's up to the community to make Macromedia change theirs. I'm not a lawyer, but I suspect a lawyer would tell you to run, not walk, away from the DevEx based on the current terms. -Kevin > -----Original Message----- > From: Tom Sammons [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Friday, March 07, 2003 4:38 PM > To: CF-Talk > Subject: Subject: MM will OWN my Devex Submissions? > > > Jeez, I wasn't going to post anything regarding all the MM site changes > because there was so much traffic here about it, but I logged into the > CF DevEx and found that a few of my submissions were missing. > > So, I went a step further to see what the new submission areas looked > like, and there was the following in the submission agreement: > > (d) Commercial Submission Only: With respect to the Commercial > Submission only, You hereby grant Macromedia a perpetual, irrevocable, > royalty-free and worldwide license to use, test, copy, modify, create > derivative works of, publicly display, publicly perform or demonstrate > the Submission, and/or place a link to a website in connection with such > Submission. > > Non-commercial Submission was very similar, if not the same (my eyes > bugged out, I can't remember now 8-). > > I don't remember this before, but this sounds strikingly like the stuff > that MS pulled when they were pushing a centralized storage > product/service. > > Am I reading it wrong, or doesn't this say that I would be giving them > licensed ownership ("create derivative works of") whatever product or > tag I might submit? > > Please, please correct me and tell me I am reading it wrong. > > Tom > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index.cfm?forumid=4 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index.cfm?method=subscribe&forumid=4 FAQ: http://www.thenetprofits.co.uk/coldfusion/faq Your ad could be here. Monies from ads go to support these lists and provide more resources for the community. http://www.fusionauthority.com/ads.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.4
