CVSROOT: /web/www
Module name: www
Changes by: Brett Smith <brett> 10/09/29 21:09:45
Modified files:
philosophy : philosophy.html
Added files:
philosophy : assigning-copyright.html
Log message:
add RMS article about assigning copyright
CVSWeb URLs:
http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewcvs/www/philosophy/philosophy.html?cvsroot=www&r1=1.325&r2=1.326
http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewcvs/www/philosophy/assigning-copyright.html?cvsroot=www&rev=1.1
Patches:
Index: philosophy.html
===================================================================
RCS file: /web/www/www/philosophy/philosophy.html,v
retrieving revision 1.325
retrieving revision 1.326
diff -u -b -r1.325 -r1.326
--- philosophy.html 6 Sep 2010 14:22:48 -0000 1.325
+++ philosophy.html 29 Sep 2010 21:09:40 -0000 1.326
@@ -15,6 +15,8 @@
<p>Hot off the presses, here are the latest published articles on free
software and the GNU project.</p>
<ul>
+ <li><a href="/philosophy/assigning-copyright.html">When a Company
+ Asks For Your Copyright</a></li>
<li><a href="/philosophy/google-engineering-talk.html">GNU & The Free
Software Foundation - Engineering Tech Talk at Google</a></li>
<li><a
@@ -27,8 +29,6 @@
the Public Domain Manifesto</a></li>
<li><a href="/philosophy/selling-exceptions.html">On Selling
Exceptions to the GNU GPL</a></li>
- <li><a href="/philosophy/lest-codeplex-perplex.html">Lest CodePlex
- perplex</a></li>
</ul>
<h3 id="aboutfs">About Free Software</h3>
@@ -128,7 +128,7 @@
<p>
Updated:
<!-- timestamp start -->
-$Date: 2010/09/06 14:22:48 $
+$Date: 2010/09/29 21:09:40 $
<!-- timestamp end -->
</p>
</div>
Index: assigning-copyright.html
===================================================================
RCS file: assigning-copyright.html
diff -N assigning-copyright.html
--- /dev/null 1 Jan 1970 00:00:00 -0000
+++ assigning-copyright.html 29 Sep 2010 21:09:40 -0000 1.1
@@ -0,0 +1,222 @@
+<!-- Parent-Version: $Revision: 1.1 $ -->
+
+<!-- This is the template document for GNU web pages. We use
+ server side includes (#include) for common elements, for
+ instance, the very first line of the file. If you're reading
+ this in its expanded form, you can retrieve the original source,
+ with the SSI statements intact, from
+
http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewvc/*checkout*/www/server/standards/boilerplate.html?root=www&content-type=text%2Fplain
+-->
+
+<!-- Instructions for adapting this boilerplate to a new project: -->
+
+<!-- 1. In the line above starting "Parent-Version:", remove the
+ "$Revision...$" from around the revision number,
+ leaving just Parent-Version: and the number. -->
+
+<!-- 2. Replace "baz" with the name of your project.
+ You should be able to do this with search and replace;
+ making sure that the search is case insensitive and
+ that the case of the replacement matches the case
+ of the string found. In Emacs, query-replace will do this
+ when case-fold-search and case-replace are both non-nil
+ and both search and replacement string are given in lower case. -->
+
+<!-- 3. Of course update the actual information according to your project,
+ such as mailing lists, project locations, and maintainer name. -->
+
+<!-- 4. You can use the patch-from-parent script to semi-automate
+ merging future changes to the boilerplate with your file:
+
http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewvc/*checkout*/www/server/standards/patch-from-parent?root=www&content-type=text%2Fplain
+-->
+
+<!--#include virtual="/server/header.html" -->
+<title>When a Company Asks For Your Copyright
+- GNU Project - Free Software Foundation</title>
+<link rel="canonical"
+ href="http://www.fsf.org/blogs/rms/assigning-copyright"; />
+<!--#include virtual="/server/banner.html" -->
+<h2>When a Company Asks For Your Copyright</h2>
+
+<p>Companies that develop free software and release it under the GNU GPL
+sometimes distribute some copies of the code in other ways. If they
+distribute the exact same code under a different license to certain
+users that pay for this, typically permitting including the code in
+proprietary programs, we call it “selling exceptions”. If they
+distribute some version of the code solely in a proprietary manner, we
+call that releasing a purely proprietary version of the program.</p>
+
+<p><a
href="http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/selling-exceptions.html";>http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/selling-exceptions.html</a>
explains why
+selling exceptions is acceptable, though only barely. By contrast,
+releasing a purely proprietary version is outright wrong, like
+any other proprietary software.</p>
+
+<p>Companies normally sell exceptions using code they themselves have
+developed. Since they hold the copyright on that code, they can
+legally distribute it in any manner, even in multiple manners in
+parallel. But what happens when you publish a modified version of
+that free program, and the company wants to include your changes in
+its version?</p>
+
+<p>Since you got the program under the GPL, when you distribute a
+modified version you have to license it under the GPL. If the company
+receives a copy, it will be able to use those changes under the GPL;
+it won't be allowed to include your changes in that program and sell
+exceptions for it. It also won't be able to release purely
+proprietary versions containing your code. If this is the outcome you
+want, you get it by default. However, if the company intends to sell
+exceptions, it will probably decide not to use your changes.</p>
+
+<p>Suppose, though, that you're not opposed to selling exceptions and
+you're willing to let the company do so while including your changes
+in the program. You can agree to this, but you need to be careful
+about what you sign, or you may be surprised by the results.</p>
+
+<p>The company will probably invite you to assign or license your
+copyright to the company. That in itself is not inherently bad; for
+instance, many GNU software developers have assigned copyrights
+to the FSF. However, the FSF never sells exceptions, and its
+assignment contracts include a commitment to distribute the
+contributor's code only with source and only permitting
+redistribution.</p>
+
+<p>The company's proposed contract may not include such a commitment. It
+might instead let the company use your changes any way it likes. If
+you sign that, the company could do various things with your code. It
+could keep selling exceptions for a program including your code. It
+could release purely proprietary modified or extended versions
+including your code. It could even include your code <em>only</em> in
+proprietary versions. Your contribution of code could turn out to be,
+in effect, a donation to proprietary software.</p>
+
+<p>It is up to you which of these activities to permit, but here are the
+FSF's recommendations. If you plan to make major contributions to the
+project, insist that the contribution agreement require that software
+versions including your contributions be available to the public under
+a free software license. This will allow the developer to sell
+exceptions, but prevent it from using your contributions in software
+that is only available under a proprietary license.</p>
+
+<p>If your contributions are smaller, you could accept a condition that
+the company make your contributions available in a free software
+project. This would allow the company to use your contributions in
+modified software that's only available under a proprietary license.
+Releasing proprietary software is never a good thing, but if your
+changes are smaller, it might be more important to improve the free
+version than resist the nonfree versions.</p>
+
+<p>You can control these outcomes by insisting on the proper conditions
+in the contract. To allow selling exceptions for the program that
+contains your code, but refuse to let the company release purely
+proprietary versions containing your code, you can insist on a
+condition more or less like this:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+ <p>Any program based on (as defined in GNU General Public License
+ version 3) Hacker's code that FOO distributes shall be made
+ available by FOO under a) the “GNU General Public License (GPL),
+ version 2 or later”, or b) the licensing in (a), above, but with
“2”
+ replaced by any higher existing GPL version number. Provided FOO
+ makes the program available as source code gratis to the public in
+ this way, it may also distribute the identical program to some of
+ its users under terms permitting them to link the program's code
+ with nonfree code and release the combination in binary form under a
+ license of their own choosing.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>Or, if what you object to is that some variant <em>of your code</em>
+might be released solely in a proprietary version, you can insist on a
+condition more or less like this:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+ <p>Any program based on (as defined in GNU General Public License
+ version 3) Hacker's code that FOO distributes shall be made
+ available by FOO under a) the “GNU General Public License (GPL),
+ version 2 or later”, or b) the licensing in (a), above, but with
“2”
+ replaced by any higher existing GPL version number. Provided FOO
+ makes the program available as source code gratis to the public in
+ this way, it may also distribute the same version of Hacker's code
+ in other programs released under other licenses of its own choosing.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>If the program is released under the GNU Affero GPL, then add
“Affero”
+before “General”, change “GPL” to “AGPL”,
change “2 or” to “3 or”, and
+it could make sense to replace “that FOO distributes” with
“that FOO
+distributes, or deploys on a server accessible to users other than
+FOO”.</p>
+
+<p>The FSF has had these texts reviewed by a lawyer, but you should get
+your own legal advice before using them.</p>
+
+<p>When a company says which of these conditions it will accept, that
+will show you how far it plans to depart from the principles of free
+software. Then you can respond to ensure your work will contribute to
+the free software community and not be diverted into proprietary
+software.</p>
+
+
+<!-- If needed, change the copyright block at the bottom. In general,
+ all pages on the GNU web server should have the section about
+ verbatim copying. Please do NOT remove this without talking
+ with the webmasters first.
+ Please make sure the copyright date is consistent with the document
+ and that it is like this: "2001, 2002", not this: "2001-2002". -->
+</div><!-- for id="content", starts in the include above -->
+<!--#include virtual="/server/footer.html" -->
+<div id="footer">
+
+<p>Please send general FSF & GNU inquiries to
+<a href="mailto:[email protected]";><[email protected]></a>.
+There are also <a href="/contact/">other ways to contact</a>
+the FSF.<br />
+Please send broken links and other corrections or suggestions to
+<a href="mailto:[email protected]";><[email protected]></a>.</p>
+
+<p>Please see the <a
+href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations
+README</a> for information on coordinating and submitting translations
+of this article.</p>
+
+<p>Copyright © 2010 Free Software Foundation, Inc.</p>
+
+<p>Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article are
+permitted worldwide, without royalty, in any medium, provided this
+notice, and the copyright notice, are preserved.</p>
+
+<p>Updated:
+<!-- timestamp start -->
+$Date: 2010/09/29 21:09:40 $
+<!-- timestamp end -->
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<div id="translations">
+<h4>Translations of this page</h4>
+
+<!-- Please keep this list alphabetical by language code.
+ Comment what the language is for each type, i.e. de is German.
+ Write the language name in its own language (Deutsch) in the text.
+ If you add a new language here, please
+ advise [email protected] and add it to
+ - /home/www/html/server/standards/README.translations.html
+ - one of the lists under the section "Translations Underway"
+ - if there is a translation team, you also have to add an alias
+ to mail.gnu.org:/com/mailer/aliases
+ Please also check you have the language code right; see:
+ http://www.loc.gov/standards/iso639-2/php/code_list.php
+ If the 2-letter ISO 639-1 code is not available,
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+ Please use W3C normative character entities.
+
+ See also '(web-trans)Capitalization':
+
http://gnu.org/software/trans-coord/manual/web-trans/html_node/Capitalization.html
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+
+<ul class="translations-list">
+<!-- English -->
+<li><a href="/server/standards/boilerplate.html">English</a> [en]</li>
+</ul>
+</div>
+</div>
+</body>
+</html>
