[Incubator] Couple of questions...

[Rich Steele]

I just saw Steve's list of questions here, which probably were posted
before I joined this list.  Thanks Arnulf for "resending".

> > Hi all: I've started work on a contributors list and a few questions
> have come up:
> >
> >   1) Is there any guidance beyond what's in the FAQ about when a CLA
is
> necessary? I'm curious what other projects are setting as thresholds.

The guidance is admittedly somewhat fuzzy, but necessarily so since it
is difficult to set a bright line when you're trying to balance the
administrative burden of having to get a CLA from every joe schmoe who
emails in a one liner bug fix and the need to have adequate rights to
all code in the source tree.  Most times it is common sense of when to
require a CLA, but there are some close calls.  Ultimately, each PSC
committer will need to take responsibility for this, and should seek
guidance from other PSC members or the board/legal counsel if you can't
get comfortable with the outcome.

> >   2) What about the "idea" vs. "implementation"? Often, someone
comes up
> with a great idea and perhaps even pseudo code, but the realization of
> that is done by a developer.

The copyright act does not protect an idea, only the expression of an
idea.  Thus, a great idea for a feature or how to fix a bug is not
copyrightable, but the actual code (the "expression" of the great idea)
is copyrightable.  Ideas can be protected in other ways (nondisclosure
agreements, trade secret laws), but those would generally not apply to
things sent in on a public email list.

> >   3) Organization vs. individual CLA's - is there a foundation
> preference when either could apply?

The intent is that an individual CLA would always be done for a
committer.  Whether a Corprorate CLA would also be required turns on
whether the person submitting the code has the authority to do so, or
whether such code is owned by the person's employer.  For example,
Autodesk developers working on MapGuide Open Source would each sign a
CLA, and Autodesk would sign a CCLA.

> >   4) Personally, over the years I have contributed code on behalf of
3
> organizations to MapServer.  Would multiple CLA's need to be filed?

Only if those organizations held the copyright to the code you
contributed.

-Rich