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

"paul" <paul-X357vOeSiW/Y2nr59tdtLgC/[email protected]> wrote in message
news:b46lgc$a5a$1-FogMEOs31dotat4ziPANHlKoq+OfwspIVIuBW6zZ0iQ@public.gmane.org
>
> > 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/


Heh...it's too bad you sent this without the follow-up comment that claims
FB owns the PostNuke code in its entirety...

bri