Thanks for facilitating communication Frank - even for a disappointing result.
Indeed this latest feedback is more harsh than the previous "scope of project
not well defined".
One of the reasons we have a contribution agreement is to help us reach out to
larger organisations such as Google. Last time we got this feedback was from
IBM, resulting in us pursuing the line of work that led to the current
contribution agreement. Indeed I think we started with apache contribution
agreement as a model and revised with the FSF Europe (as they were willing to
talk to us).
If this agreement is not doing the job action is no-doubt required. Especially
as this contribution agreement is held up as a template for other OSGeo
projects to follow.
However, this is very much a case where we are not lawyers and are not in
position to rework / reword an agreement on our own. We best bring this up as
an issue with the OSGeo board.
I understand your contact does not want to provide specifics, in part as that
would be "free" advice. It is difficult to determine if the recommendation of
"apache agreement" is simply leverage an agreement that has withstood courtroom
use, or if there is anything "strategic" in our agreement that raises alarm
bells.
--
Jody Garnett
On Wednesday, 30 January 2013 at 11:30 AM, Frank Warmerdam wrote:
> Folks,
>
> I have finally got a clear response back from our internal legal
> reviewer to my request to offer refinement to the text of the GeoTools
> contributor agreement. He indicated that the agreement has multiple
> issues, and that it couldn't be easily corrected to meet our
> (Google's) expectations. He suggested we might want to start over
> with a stock agreement such as Apache's.
>
> I'm not interested in pushing a complete rework of the contribution
> agreement, so at this point I am letting the matter drop and it
> appears that Google will not be a significant contributor to GeoTools.
> I'm rather bummed.
>
> If other companies come to a similar conclusion then it might be worth
> rethinking the agreement. If this is just a peculiarity of Google
> then I think you can just write us off as outliers.
>
> Best regards,
> Frank
>
>
> On Wed, Dec 12, 2012 at 1:34 AM, Andrea Aime
> <[email protected] (mailto:[email protected])> wrote:
> > On Tue, Dec 11, 2012 at 11:06 PM, Jody Garnett <[email protected]
> > (mailto:[email protected])>
> > wrote:
> > >
> > > Thanks for contacting us Frank, we have not had any feedback to this
> > > effect previously.
> > >
> > > I am sure we can tightening up the language in the CLA, and could issue a
> > > new version of the document following our usual change procedure.
> > >
> > > Our project is "open" allowing you to assemble a "proposal" to change the
> > > wording (as outlined in the developers guide). You do not have to be a
> > > member of the project steering committee to make a proposal. This would
> > > also
> > > give your legal department something to review prior to us issuing a new
> > > copy of the document. In this particular case we will need to assemble a
> > > document, and then pass it to the OSGeo board for final approval (as OSGeo
> > > is the legal entity effected).
> > >
> >
> >
> >
> > I agree with the idea. It's easier for us to tell you if something cooked up
> > by a lawyer team defines Geotools than try to give
> > you a definition that would suit lawyers.
> > Hopefully the material on the GeoTools web site and this discussion helps
> > clarify what we feel GeoTools is
> >
> > Cheers
> > Andrea
> >
> > --
> > ==
> > Our support, Your Success! Visit http://opensdi.geo-solutions.it for more
> > information.
> > ==
> >
> > Ing. Andrea Aime
> > @geowolf
> > Technical Lead
> >
> > GeoSolutions S.A.S.
> > Via Poggio alle Viti 1187
> > 55054 Massarosa (LU)
> > Italy
> > phone: +39 0584 962313
> > fax: +39 0584 1660272
> > mob: +39 339 8844549
> >
> > http://www.geo-solutions.it
> > http://twitter.com/geosolutions_it
> >
> > -------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>
> --
> ---------------------------------------+--------------------------------------
> I set the clouds in motion - turn up | Frank Warmerdam, [email protected]
> (mailto:[email protected])
> light and sound - activate the windows | http://pobox.com/~warmerdam
> and watch the world go round - Rush | Geospatial Software Developer
>
>
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