[Board] One concern on obligations for OSGeo projects

[Frank Warmerdam]

jo at frot.org wrote:
> *However* there is the question of code copyright assignment. Some
> projects assign copyright to OSGeo via a formal legal contract.
> Other projects have AFAIK no *contract* with the OSGeo Corporation - 
> they are "part of OSGeo" via a consensus decision. 
> Does this make them legally subject to the same laws? 

Jo,

Note that the projects generally only exist as a legal entity
in the sense that they are an officially recognised activity of
OSGeo.  So there is of course no one we could have a contract with.

> Yet we do need advice for the projects that are assigning
> their copyright directly to the Foundation (MapGuide, GeoTools). 

I don't see that copyright assignment or contributions agreements really
changes the situation.

Ultimately if a project steering committee operated contrary to OSGeo's
legal obligations the board would eventually have to disavow them as an
OSGeo project.  Of course we aren't looking for trouble.

Best regards,
-- 
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I set the clouds in motion - turn up   | Frank Warmerdam, warmerdam at pobox.com
light and sound - activate the windows | http://pobox.com/~warmerdam
and watch the world go round - Rush    | President OSGeo, http://osgeo.org