Thank you very much for the info and advice Mark, very much appreciated. This is all entirely new ground for me and so I may make mistakes going forward, just let me know and I’ll do my best to correct them ASAP! I hope certainly hope anyone else trying to do anything with the legacy code base would respect LC Ltd’s iP / copyrights as well.
> With all that said, I wish you, and anyone who joins you, well with your > endeavour. > > Have fun! > > Warmest Regards, Having fun IS one of the primary goals! Good luck and Thanks again. > On Sep 9, 2021, at 10:18 AM, Mark Waddingham via use-livecode > <use-livecode@lists.runrev.com> wrote: > > On 2021-09-08 22:54, Paul McClernan via use-livecode wrote: >> I've already fixed a bug that I reported back in April in my fork(s) and >> added a link to my fix to that bugzilla report. >> https://github.com/PaulMcClernan/LiveCodeCommunity-IDE-DontPanicEdition > > At this point in any changed relationship, it’s necessary to set out the new > terms, as amicably as possible. Each side needs to clearly understand where > they can and cannot go now. As our move away from supporting Open Source > LiveCode is still very new, it’s likely the ramifications are not as yet > understood. > > I have to ask you (and anyone involved in that project, or any other forks) > politely not to submit any changes back to bugzilla or anywhere else > associated with LiveCode Ltd. as it creates a business risk for us. > > We (LiveCode Ltd.) cannot take any code changes you make to your project's > version of the LiveCode source-code and use them in our commercial code as > (by default) it will be GPLv3 licensed, and the copyright of that will be > held by the person who authored the changes; just as you cannot change the > license from GPLv3 nor copyright attribution (LiveCode Ltd.) - whether > explicit or implicit - of any existing line of code in your project's fork of > the LiveCode repositories, nor take any changes which appear from now onwards > in any commercial edition to incorporate into your project. > > When we were running the open source project, we had in place a Contributor's > License Agreement which meant that the copyright of any code authored by a > contributor in any patch submitted to LiveCode Ltd was assigned to us. > However, this only extended to contributions submitted through GitHub, where > there was an appropriate immutable record of such submissions and it was > universally clear what changes were being made. For obvious reasons, this no > longer exists. > > More generally, I must also ask you not to use the LiveCode mailing list, bug > reporting system or LiveCode forums for discussions surrounding your fork - > particularly related to plans, ideas, developments and changes which are > being or have been made. > > At no point do I want us to be the target of any sort of public ill-will or > indeed lawsuit due to assertions of copyright theft, or appropriation of > other people's ideas that were not clearly (whether implicitly or explicitly) > proffered to us directly. > > The only way to ensure that is for any forks (yours included) to stand > completely independently and by themselves - with their own communication > forums, distinctive product name and distinct branding so there can be no > risk of confusion nor appropriation of anything from either side. > > I should point out that recent events are actually nothing to do with my > above words - I would have said the same to any fork maintainer who actively > sought to advertise their fork within the existing LiveCode community - as > defined by LiveCode's mailing lists, forums, bug reporting system, or any > other forum owned and run by LiveCode Ltd. for the purposes of public > interaction - or posted links to code changes from that project or on any > such forum/system. Indeed, ensuring complete independence really is standard > practice when forks are made of open source projects - OpenOffice and > LibreOffice spring to mind. > > We fully respect the legacy we have created in terms of the GPLv3 > source-code, copyrighted to LiveCode Ltd., which is forever preserved in the > archived GitHub repositories in the LiveCode GitHub account which carry the > LiveCode name. We have no issue with any or all forks or open-source > GPLv3-based projects which might arise from that legacy. > > All we ask is that any such project ensures that it respects LiveCode Ltd.'s > intellectual property as embodied within that (through its GPLv3 licensed, > copyrighted source-code) and also respects LiveCode Ltd.'s right to assert > itself as the only entitled user of the LiveCode name, trademarks and brand > identity. > > With all that said, I wish you, and anyone who joins you, well with your > endeavour. > > Have fun! > > Warmest Regards, > > Mark. > > -- > Mark Waddingham ~ m...@livecode.com ~ http://www.livecode.com/ > LiveCode: Everyone can create apps > > _______________________________________________ > use-livecode mailing list > use-livecode@lists.runrev.com > Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription > preferences: > http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-livecode _______________________________________________ use-livecode mailing list use-livecode@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-livecode
