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    <p>Erin, there is a subtle but important concept of ownership of IP
      which should be discussed with supporting organisations.</p>
    <p>Either each person owns their own contribution, or each person
      gives their ownership rights to a legal entity such as Apache.
      (This means Apache can then re-assign copyright if needed.)<br>
    </p>
    <p>This is the question to put to the lawyers. <br>
    </p>
    <p>Cheers, Cameron<br>
    </p>
    <div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 17/7/19 6:44 am, Erin McKean wrote:<br>
    </div>
    <blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:CAKeUqU5D+JwXLyDriMXxD4e5yYFzMGVXWNMoOv8F9ng=1K6rbg@mail.gmail.com">
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      <div dir="ltr">If all contributions are licensed under CC-BY or
        CC-0 or 0BSD then there's no remaining copyright issues afaik
        (since the relevant rights have been released under the
        license)? (Obligatory IANAL here)
        <div><br>
        </div>
        <div>I will ask, but probably won't be able to until I'm back
          from OSCON ...
          <div><br>
          </div>
          <div>Thanks!</div>
          <div><br>
            Erin </div>
        </div>
      </div>
      <br>
      <div class="gmail_quote">
        <div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Tue, Jul 16, 2019 at 1:22
          PM Eric Holscher <<a href="mailto:eric@writethedocs.org"
            moz-do-not-send="true">eric@writethedocs.org</a>> wrote:<br>
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          <div dir="ltr">Makes sense. In my experience, companies are
            more worried about the license of the content than the
            copyright (most OSS in general is owned by private
            individuals or other corporations). WTD doesn't own any
            source code historically of value that we'd want to
            relicense, so copyright ownership hasn't been something
            we've been worried about.
            <div>
              <div><br>
              </div>
              <div>Cheers,</div>
              <div>Eric </div>
            </div>
          </div>
          <br>
          <div class="gmail_quote">
            <div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Tue, Jul 16, 2019 at
              1:03 PM Cameron Shorter <<a
                href="mailto:cameron.shorter@gmail.com" target="_blank"
                moz-do-not-send="true">cameron.shorter@gmail.com</a>>
              wrote:<br>
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                <p>Thanks Eric for the info,</p>
                <p>It is a pity WriteTheDocs isn't a non-profit, but I
                  understand the challenges with setting up a
                  not-for-profit - the OSGeo Foundation went through a
                  lot of heartache going through the process.</p>
                <p>While it would be great if were legally under the
                  umbrella of WriteTheDocs, I suspect that being under
                  the umbrella of a not-for-profit entity will be
                  important for potential contributors from big
                  companies.</p>
                <p>I'm open to suggestions on who we should reach out to
                  here.</p>
                <p>Cheers, Cameron<br>
                </p>
                <div
class="gmail-m_-2301139461349349727gmail-m_8708879290819695036moz-cite-prefix">On
                  17/7/19 3:32 am, Eric Holscher wrote:<br>
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                <blockquote type="cite">
                  <div dir="ltr">WTD info is documented here: <a
                      href="http://www.writethedocs.org/about-us/#legal-entity"
                      target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">http://www.writethedocs.org/about-us/#legal-entity</a> --
                    so, if you're looking for a non-profit organization,
                    we're not one at the moment. It might be in the
                    cards eventually, but it likely doesn't make sense
                    for us currently. 
                    <div><br>
                    </div>
                    <div>We don't do any copyright assignment, so each
                      person owns their own contributions on our site. <br>
                      <div><br>
                        Cheers,</div>
                      <div>Eric</div>
                    </div>
                  </div>
                  <br>
                  <div class="gmail_quote">
                    <div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Sat, Jul 13,
                      2019 at 6:54 PM Cameron Shorter <<a
                        href="mailto:cameron.shorter@gmail.com"
                        target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">cameron.shorter@gmail.com</a>>
                      wrote:<br>
                    </div>
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                      <div dir="ltr">Folks,
                        <div>We should consider which legal entity will
                          own the material we create.</div>
                        <div>People or a legal entity will own artifacts
                          we create and others can use the artifact
                          under the terms of the license.</div>
                        <div><br>
                        </div>
                        <div>As I understand it, our options are:</div>
                        <div>* Every contributor owns their personal
                          contribution. This makes it very difficult to
                          relicense a collective work in future, which
                          has pros and cons.</div>
                        <div>* More common is to assign ownership to a
                          trustworthy non-profit foundation, (such as
                          the Apache Foundation, Open Source Foundation,
                          or Open Source Geospatial Foundation).</div>
                        <div><br>
                        </div>
                        <div>I'm in favour of selecting a suitable
                          foundation to assign our copyright to and
                          would like to hear suggestions. I suspect the
                          legal structure behind WriteTheDocs would be
                          good.</div>
                        <div><br>
                        </div>
                        <div>Eric, Jennifer, do you know the legal
                          status of WriteTheDocs? Or are you able to put
                          us in touch with someone who knows?<br
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                          -- <br>
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                                          <div>
                                            <div><span
                                                style="font-size:12.8px">Cameron
                                                Shorter</span><br>
                                            </div>
                                            <div>Technology Demystifier</div>
                                            <div>Open Technologies and
                                              Geospatial Consultant</div>
                                            <div><br>
                                            </div>
                                            <div>M +61 (0) 419 142 254</div>
                                            <div><br>
                                            </div>
                                          </div>
                                          <div><br>
                                            <br>
                                          </div>
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                      </div>
                    </blockquote>
                  </div>
                  <br clear="all">
                  <div><br>
                  </div>
                  -- <br>
                  <div dir="ltr"
class="gmail-m_-2301139461349349727gmail-m_8708879290819695036gmail-m_-2907387073802540897gmail_signature">
                    <div dir="ltr">
                      <div>Co-founder Write the Docs<br>
                      </div>
                      <a href="http://www.writethedocs.org"
                        target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">http://www.writethedocs.org</a><br>
                    </div>
                  </div>
                </blockquote>
                <pre class="gmail-m_-2301139461349349727gmail-m_8708879290819695036moz-signature" cols="72">-- 
Cameron Shorter
Technology Demystifier
Open Technologies and Geospatial Consultant

M +61 (0) 419 142 254</pre>
              </div>
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          <br clear="all">
          <div><br>
          </div>
          -- <br>
          <div dir="ltr"
            class="gmail-m_-2301139461349349727gmail_signature">
            <div dir="ltr">
              <div>Co-founder Write the Docs<br>
              </div>
              <a href="http://www.writethedocs.org" target="_blank"
                moz-do-not-send="true">http://www.writethedocs.org</a><br>
            </div>
          </div>
          _______________________________________________<br>
          SeasonOfDocs mailing list<br>
          <a href="mailto:SeasonOfDocs@lists.osgeo.org" target="_blank"
            moz-do-not-send="true">SeasonOfDocs@lists.osgeo.org</a><br>
          <a
            href="https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/seasonofdocs"
            rel="noreferrer" target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/seasonofdocs</a><br>
        </blockquote>
      </div>
      <br clear="all">
      <div><br>
      </div>
      -- <br>
      <div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature">
        <div dir="ltr">
          <div>
            <div dir="ltr">
              <div
style="line-height:1.5em;padding-top:10px;margin-top:10px;color:rgb(85,85,85);font-family:sans-serif"><span
                  style="border-width:2px 0px
0px;border-style:solid;border-color:rgb(213,15,37);padding-top:2px;margin-top:2px">Erin
                  McKean |</span><span style="border-width:2px 0px
0px;border-style:solid;border-color:rgb(51,105,232);padding-top:2px;margin-top:2px"> Developer
                  Relations Program Manager, Open Source Strategy |</span><span
                  style="border-width:2px 0px
0px;border-style:solid;border-color:rgb(0,153,57);padding-top:2px;margin-top:2px"> <a
                    href="mailto:emckean@google.com" target="_blank"
                    moz-do-not-send="true">emckean@google.com</a> |</span><span
                  style="border-width:2px 0px
0px;border-style:solid;border-color:rgb(238,178,17);padding-top:2px;margin-top:2px"> she/her</span></div>
              <br>
            </div>
          </div>
        </div>
      </div>
    </blockquote>
    <pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">-- 
Cameron Shorter
Technology Demystifier
Open Technologies and Geospatial Consultant

M +61 (0) 419 142 254</pre>
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