[Savannah-register-public] [task #10260] Submission of GPSD

[Eric S. Raymond]

Follow-up Comment #4, task #10260 (project administration):

>Do you collect copyright assignments?

No. OSI debated recommending this practice in 2003, but we decided on advice
of counsel that the better legal posture is to maintain that the act of
contributing to an open-source project  constitutes an irrevocable grant to
distribute under the project license. Under U.S. common law relating to
estoppel due to unclean hands, this would be difficult to argue against -
whereas if community practice were to require copyright assignments we might
*undermine* the argument for implicit grant. 

Thus, I'm actually *opposed* to collecting copyright assignments, and I think
it's a good thing the community has largely rejected the practice. I know FSF
likes to do it, and I understand their tactical reasons, and I gave them my
general release many years ago, but I think it's a strategic mistake.

>Otherwise you are not entitled to enforce the copyright in court. 

I'm not entitled to enforce a copyright by any other person, but I *do* have
standing if I hold the copyrights for the project. At least in the U.S.,
courts aren't picky about fictive-person status unless a limitation on
liability is being claimed. 

Worrying about copyright enforcement is pretty silly under a BSD license,
anyway.

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