[OSGeo-Discuss] Software Copyright ownership

[Arnulf Christl (aka Seven)]

Cleaning up an older thread... 

>From what I gather from the lists there seems to be no broad opinion in
favor of making projects move their copyright under the hood of OSGeo. 

With the recent discussion of potential export restriction enforcement
by incorporated organizations incorporated in USA the the need for a
more global organization seems to be higher. I am frankly at a loss at
where such an organization would be incorporated and what it could look
like but if it existed I would very much like to support it. If anyone
has a great idea what a truly global OSGeo should look like please speak
up. 

We should spend some thought on copyright every time we admit and
evaluate projects in incubation. My personal experience shows that
having the copyright of Open Source projects completely under the hood
of a community owned organization is a good thing. Everything else is
messy. The messy bit only shows when things go wrong so lets keep
fingers crossed and as long as nothing happens we'll all be fine. 

Best regards, 
Arnulf. 

On Mon, 2009-12-14 at 21:34 +0000, Chris Puttick wrote:
> The other issue with assigning code copyrights to a US-based
>  organisation is a simple one. The US has the strongest software patent
>  machine and the most supportive courts (if you pick your state
>  carefully ;) ).
> 
> As FOSSGIS applications bite ever harder into the profits of the dominant player(s), the chance of the game being changed to a legal one rather than a sales and marketing one is pretty high; a fight OSGeo couldn't afford to be in.
> 
> Chris
> 
> ----- "Landon Blake" <lblake at ksninc.com> wrote:
> 
> > One example of the restrictions Luis is talking about is the
> > prohibition
> > against distributing certain cryptographic software outside of the
> > US:
> > 
> > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Export_of_cryptography
> > 
> > Don't know that OSGeo would bump into that, but it is one example of
> > a
> > US specific restriction on organizations involved in software
> > development.
> > 
> > Landon
> > Office Phone Number: (209) 946-0268
> > Cell Phone Number: (209) 992-0658
> >  
> >  
> > 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: discuss-bounces at lists.osgeo.org
> > [mailto:discuss-bounces at lists.osgeo.org] On Behalf Of Luis W. Sevilla
> > Sent: Monday, December 14, 2009 10:40 AM
> > To: OSGeo Discussions
> > Subject: Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] Software Copyright ownership
> > 
> > Hi,
> >     one thing must be taken in account, IMHO. If I'm not wrong OSGeo
> > is 
> > an USA foundation (is registered in the States, and must follow his 
> > laws, of course. As USA maintains a commercial embargo to Cuba [1], it
> > 
> > seems there are a lot of things in technology fields restricted to 
> > American companies (and also foundations).
> > 
> >     If OSGeo will not became a more global (not so USA laws
> > conditioned)
> > 
> > institution, it doesn't seem so good the idea of giving all and every
> > 
> > copyrights to the foundation.
> > 
> >     My two cents
> >        Luis
> > 
> > [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_embargo_against_Cuba
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> > 
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