RE: What will be the licensing policy for future contributions to Strongtalk?

+ 1 

 

This would be a good thing to talk to Dan at the Software Freedom Law Center
about.  SFLC provides free legal services and representation for open source
projects.  It really is a good idea to get this setup from the beginning.
There are a number of options and a number of implications to which path you
take, especially if you intend to get non-profit tax status in the future.  

 

Dave, I would be happy to introduce you to Dan if you like.

 

Ron Teitelbaum

 

  _____  

From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On
Behalf Of Lothar Schenk
Sent: Tuesday, September 19, 2006 7:47 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [strongtalk] What will be the licensing policy for future
contributions to Strongtalk?

 

First of all, since this is my first post on the list, let me express my
deep 
appreciation for making this software available, for the groundbreaking new 
ideas embodied in it and for the really excellent work that has gone into
the 
design and implementation of this software.

But, apart from the exciting new technical possibilities that it opens up, I

think that now is the time to learn from Squeak's bad example (in the area
of 
licences) and not fall into the same trap, i.e. not having from the start a 
licence policy for new contributions to the official distribution.

I am not a lawyer, but it is my understanding of the matter, that the
current 
BSD or BSD-style licence only covers what was originally contributed by Sun 
microsystems and modifications of the same. New code written (and possibly 
contributed) by other people do not fall automatically under the same
licence 
(insofar as it is really new, i.e. not derived from existant code), because 
it is the intellectual property of the respective writer of the code, and 
this person has the right, by law, to determine its license. If nothing
would 
be done in this area, it would mean that over time pieces of code would be 
included in the system who would not fall under the original licence, 
possibly jeopardizing the project from a legal point of view.

Apart from meticulous book-keeping of who contributed what to future
releases 
of the system, I think it is highly advisable to make a request of every 
future contributor to the system that he explicitly release his contribution

under the same terms as the rest of the system (i.e.the BSD licence) before 
it can be included in the distribution.

Regards, Lothar