FW: Re: Proprietary Modules and GPL API (from postnuke devel list)

> The only way for us to get
> postnuke to the lgpl level would be to completely rewrite all the code
from
> scratch or to get every person who has ever worked on the code base to
give
> over their right to the gpl to a single party.

Not necessarily true. Only the code currently in use needs to be considered.
Also keep in mind that this is the decision of the copyright owner, the GNU
GPL is just a license between the copyright owner and another entity, so
whoever owns the copyright to the code gets to decide on the license.

In a collaborative environment people get confused over who is the copyright
holder of what, but it gets easier when you look into copyright law. For a
work to be copyrightable it must be significant and original expression -
i.e. a three line function I come up with isn't copyrightable, nor is a soup
recipe; however a recipe collection (or complete program) is. This already
significantly cuts the chaff of who can claim a thumb in the pie. In the
case of works made for hire, the employer and not the employee is considered
to be the author. Included in the definition of a "work made for hire" is:
"a work specially ordered or commissioned for use as:
    a contribution to a collective work
    a translation
    a supplementary work"

Basically if there really is a legal entity known as "Post Nuke" whoever
they may be are the copyright owners of the vast majority of the codebase.
(On the other hand, if there isn't an actual legal entity called "Post Nuke"
then everything you guys have done have basically been donated to the public
domain.)

See:
http://www.loc.gov/copyright/circs/circ1.html
http://www.ksu.edu/academicservices/intprop/webtutor/tsld002.htm
http://www.intelproplaw.com/
with many links at http://www.intelproplaw.com/Copyright/