Difference between revisions of "Joint Copyright Assignment"
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| − | + | The '''Joint Copyright Assignment''' is a legal document you sign giving Sun, as well as your self, copyright to your contributions to OpenOffice.org. | |
| − | + | It lurks at http://www.openoffice.org/licenses/jca.pdf | |
| − | A non- | + | A non-lawyer's view of this and it's reasonableness is provided by Michael Meeks (a non-Sun developer): |
| − | + | In my opinion the JCA is both sensible and reasonable. | |
| − | + | 1st - it is important to have a single owner for the OO.o codebase copyright | |
| − | + | to allow re-licensing in future. Ideally it would be owned by a neutral | |
| − | + | 3rd party, but the existing situation works well because: | |
| − | + | 2nd - Sun does not (ab)use the re-licensing provisions available to them, | |
| − | + | indeed - quite the opposite they contribute all their changes to the code | |
| − | + | following the spirit of the LGPL much as anyone else would. | |
| − | + | Furthermore, the JCA doesn't 'loose' you your copyright, just shares it. | |
| − | + | Novell, RedHat and other corporations & groups have collectively signed | |
| − | + | the JCA. | |
There is more good blurb about this [http://www.openoffice.org/FAQs/faq-licensing.html#usinglicenses] here for those that want to know more. | There is more good blurb about this [http://www.openoffice.org/FAQs/faq-licensing.html#usinglicenses] here for those that want to know more. | ||
Revision as of 03:32, 26 November 2005
The Joint Copyright Assignment is a legal document you sign giving Sun, as well as your self, copyright to your contributions to OpenOffice.org.
It lurks at http://www.openoffice.org/licenses/jca.pdf
A non-lawyer's view of this and it's reasonableness is provided by Michael Meeks (a non-Sun developer):
In my opinion the JCA is both sensible and reasonable.
1st - it is important to have a single owner for the OO.o codebase copyright
to allow re-licensing in future. Ideally it would be owned by a neutral
3rd party, but the existing situation works well because:
2nd - Sun does not (ab)use the re-licensing provisions available to them,
indeed - quite the opposite they contribute all their changes to the code
following the spirit of the LGPL much as anyone else would.
Furthermore, the JCA doesn't 'loose' you your copyright, just shares it.
Novell, RedHat and other corporations & groups have collectively signed
the JCA.
There is more good blurb about this [1] here for those that want to know more.
