[mapguide-internals] PSC: Contributor Agreements

[Jason Birch]

Yes, looks good.
 
Hey Bob, could you turn off reply-to-poster on the -users list?  It's
really giving us fragmented conversations...
 
Do we need a motion for this?
 
Jason

________________________________

From: mapguide-internals-bounces at lists.osgeo.org
[mailto:mapguide-internals-bounces at lists.osgeo.org] On Behalf Of Trevor
Wekel
Sent: Thursday, January 25, 2007 12:26
To: MapGuide Internals Mail List
Subject: RE: [mapguide-internals] PSC: Contributor Agreements


Hi Bob, Yep.  Much better.
 
Trevor

________________________________

From: mapguide-internals-bounces at lists.osgeo.org
[mailto:mapguide-internals-bounces at lists.osgeo.org] On Behalf Of Robert
Bray
Sent: Thursday, January 25, 2007 1:19 PM
To: MapGuide Internals Mail List
Subject: Re: [mapguide-internals] PSC: Contributor Agreements


Here is Jennifer's proposed re-wording of item 3.



3.      Grant of Patent License. Subject to the terms and conditions of
this Agreement, You hereby grant to the Foundation and to recipients of
software distributed by the Foundation a perpetual, worldwide,
non-exclusive, fully-paid, royalty-free, irrevocable (except as stated
in this section) patent license to have made, use, offer to sell, sell,
import, and otherwise transfer the Work, where such license applies only
to those patent claims licensable by You that are necessarily infringed
by Your Contribution(s) alone or by combination of Your Contribution(s)
with the Work to which such Contribution(s) were submitted, as such Work
existed as of the date of your Contribution(s). This patent license
shall not apply to any other combinations which include the
Contribution(s). If any entity (a "Litigant") institutes patent
litigation against You or any other entity (including a cross-claim or
counterclaim in a lawsuit) alleging that your Contribution, or the Work
to which you have contributed, constitutes direct or contributory patent
infringement, then any patent licenses granted to that Litigant under
this Agreement for that Contribution or Work shall terminate as of the
date such litigation is filed.


Does this clear up the confusion? If so I'll incorporate this into the
agreement and motion to accept this animal.

Bob


Jason Birch wrote: 

	 
	I understood the intent.  What was fuzzy for me was the wording.
That clause uses the word "entity" twice, but when speaking about
license revocation it does not specify which of the earlier noted
entities it was referring to.
	 
	Jason
	
	________________________________
	
	From: mapguide-internals-bounces at lists.osgeo.org on behalf of
Robert Bray
	Sent: Tue 2007-01-23 2:02 PM
	To: MapGuide Internals Mail List
	Subject: Re: [mapguide-internals] PSC: Contributor Agreements
	
	
	Trevor,
	
	I read it and did not get it either, so I consulted our current
lawyer Jennifer Daehler. Hopefully Jennifer's explanation below makes
sense:
	
	
		I can understand the question.  This issue gets handled
different ways by different open source groups.  In this form, the
intent is that the suing entity's patent license is revoked.  Here's an
example to help make it clearer (I hope I won't cause further confusion!
:-)): 
	
		"A" is a contributor to OSGeo under this Agreement.  So
OSGeo has the right to license A's contributions to the MapGuide OS
project.
	
		"Entity X" decides to license MapGuide OS from OSGeo.
Entity X then decides that the portion of the MapGuide OS project that
came from A actually infringes on one of Entity X's patents.  Entity X
decides to sue A (or decides to sue any other licensee of the MapGuide
project) alleging that A's contribution infringes Entity X's patent.  
	
		This provision says that if Entity X takes this course,
then A can take the position with Entity X that Entity X's patent
license to A's contribution has been revoked.  
	
		In reality, there have not been too many patent
infringement actions launched against open source projects.  However,
the fact remains that open source projects have very little leverage
against patent infringement actions.  This provision is an attempt to
provide some retribution for instituting patent lawsuits against
contributors to the project.  It's not any guarantee by a long shot, but
it's a mechanism that a number of open source projects have adopted.  
	
	Thanks,
	Bob
	
	  
	
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