[OSGeo-Discuss] process for copyright assignment

[Tim Schaub]

Hey-

I'm hoping to hear some discussion that results in the creation of 
guidelines for new, pre-incubation projects wishing to assign copyright 
to OSGeo.

Ideally, these guidelines would be as simple as:
  1) Follow instructions for becoming a "labs" project 
http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/OSGeo_Labs
  2) Follow instructions on assigning copyright 
http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Project_Copyright_Assignment

Both of the above pages would require some modification.

I'd suggest a section on the labs page about "becoming a labs project" 
(perhaps as simple as editing that wiki page).

On the copyright page, it would be nice if the preferred template 
replaced the old one and if there were some instruction on what to do 
with a signed agreement (e.g. mail to X).

Does this seem reasonable?

This has been brought up previously ([1], [2]).  Previous suggestions 
have been "don't ask, just assign" and "ask existing project to accept 
governance."  Since the former feels sleazy and the latter assumes some 
existing project is motivated to assist the new project, I'm hoping 
there can be something in between.

Also, since I don't pretend to understand all the implications of 
assigning copyright, I would accept "OSGeo doesn't encourage this" as an 
answer.

Thanks for any ideas (and I'm happy to help with drafting any guidelines).

Tim


[1] http://n2.nabble.com/copyright-question-td2088465.html
[2] http://n2.nabble.com/Starting-new-projects-under-OSGEO-td2083937.html

-- 
Tim Schaub
OpenGeo - http://opengeo.org
Expert service straight from the developers.