Though I'm mercifully self-employed and don't have to deal with corporate overhead, I empathize with Jochen. Signing things naturally makes people nervous. As an individual, I can read through what I'm being asked to sign, decide for myself if I want to trust the entity which I'm entering into agreement with, and make a decision backed on faith in that entity.
For a company, I can see two barriers: 1) They haven't heard of, or don't care about, or otherwise are too lazy/hardheaded/whatever to read up on the ASF and make such a decision. 2) (Applies only/more for big companies) Even if they know of the ASF, use the products - heck, the manager in question could even be a commiter to the ASF himself (either not on work time which would require a CCLA, or perhaps was a committer before joining the corporation he now works for) and would gladly sign as an individual; there's still the fear of the unknown and unexpected whiplash... Months after code being submitted, someone in management discovers that some of the code submitted is "questionably IP" of the company - it doesn't matter if it is or isn't, nor does the legal status of the code at that point matter. Management doesn't know or care. Management isn't even a techie. Management is management, though, and heads will roll. They're may not even come after the employee who submitted the code. They're going to come after the people who signed "that damn piece of paper" (and/or those outside of Legal who got the person who signed it to do so). I know if I was the person asked to get the CCLA signed, I would definitely think twice. Just my $0.02 Issac Jochen Wiedmann wrote: > On Fri, 25 Mar 2005 08:39:00 -0500, Geir Magnusson Jr. <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > wrote: > > >>In your case, what does this mean that you can't get a "formal >>agreement" from the legal dept? Is that related to your employment >>contract / agreement? Does this mean that there are rights that they >>hold and don't want to give up? Or does it mean that our CCLA is too >>broad/narrow/wrong/whatever? (I've heard feedback about our CCLA to >>that end...) >> >>Is there some other kind of document we could create to help this? > > > It is very simple: My work for the ASF isn't recognized well. My boss > would definitely prefer me to play soccer or do whatever in my spare > time, but not write software, which could potentially spread know how > to the outside world. They accept it, that's all. But *help* me by > *formally signing* a document, that doesn't pay a single cent to the > company? Why should they? > > Jochen > --------------------------------------------------------------------- DISCLAIMER: Discussions on this list are informational and educational only, are not privileged and do not constitute legal advice. --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
