You are viewing a plain text version of this content. The canonical link for it is here.
Posted to legal-discuss@apache.org by Justin Erenkrantz <ju...@erenkrantz.com> on 2006/09/14 10:35:28 UTC
ASF projects relicensing code from another ASF project?
Consider two ASF projects: A and B.
B decides that A has some cool code that they want to use. So, they
copy some files from A's tree to B's tree. Committers to B may then
tweak that code (orig from A) within B's tree.
However, the code from A may be slightly out-of-date - say it has an
older copyright license block. Is it then okay for committers in B to
remove the Copyright lines in the files originally drawn from A and
update the license block in their forked copy in B? Or, should the
folks in B only update when A does so?
I think the answer is legally 'yes, they can relicense as they wish'
as B has just as much legal right to the code, but that makes me
uneasy policy-wise. Courtesy-wise, I would also prefer that project B
include an entry in their NOTICE file that B includes work from A. Is
this a reasonable request to ask of an ASF project when they copy code
from another one?
I won't even touch how this is affected by patents and Works right now
- my question is largely about copyrights. Depending upon how we
resolve the patent issue, I actually think patent rights would block
transition/migration of code into another ASF project - ouch!
Thanks. -- justin
---------------------------------------------------------------------
DISCLAIMER: Discussions on this list are informational and educational
only. Statements made on this list are not privileged, do not
constitute legal advice, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions
and policies of the ASF. See <http://www.apache.org/licenses/> for
official ASF policies and documents.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: legal-discuss-unsubscribe@apache.org
For additional commands, e-mail: legal-discuss-help@apache.org
Re: ASF projects relicensing code from another ASF project?
Posted by Bill Stoddard <bi...@wstoddard.com>.
Jim Jagielski wrote:
>
> On Sep 14, 2006, at 4:35 AM, Justin Erenkrantz wrote:
>
>> Consider two ASF projects: A and B.
>>
>> B decides that A has some cool code that they want to use. So, they
>> copy some files from A's tree to B's tree. Committers to B may then
>> tweak that code (orig from A) within B's tree.
>>
>> However, the code from A may be slightly out-of-date - say it has an
>> older copyright license block. Is it then okay for committers in B to
>> remove the Copyright lines in the files originally drawn from A and
>> update the license block in their forked copy in B?
>
> I would say yes. It's not the projects per-se that "own"
> the code, but rather the ASF proper. As such, the headers
> should reflect the state of copyright for the ASF, and
> B really *should* make sure it's up to date, even if
> A is dropping the ball.
Yes, I agree with Jim. Obviously there is more to the question. Waiting for the other shoe to drop ;-)
Bill
---------------------------------------------------------------------
DISCLAIMER: Discussions on this list are informational and educational
only. Statements made on this list are not privileged, do not
constitute legal advice, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions
and policies of the ASF. See <http://www.apache.org/licenses/> for
official ASF policies and documents.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: legal-discuss-unsubscribe@apache.org
For additional commands, e-mail: legal-discuss-help@apache.org
Re: ASF projects relicensing code from another ASF project?
Posted by Jim Jagielski <ji...@jaguNET.com>.
On Sep 14, 2006, at 4:35 AM, Justin Erenkrantz wrote:
> Consider two ASF projects: A and B.
>
> B decides that A has some cool code that they want to use. So, they
> copy some files from A's tree to B's tree. Committers to B may then
> tweak that code (orig from A) within B's tree.
>
> However, the code from A may be slightly out-of-date - say it has an
> older copyright license block. Is it then okay for committers in B to
> remove the Copyright lines in the files originally drawn from A and
> update the license block in their forked copy in B?
I would say yes. It's not the projects per-se that "own"
the code, but rather the ASF proper. As such, the headers
should reflect the state of copyright for the ASF, and
B really *should* make sure it's up to date, even if
A is dropping the ball.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
DISCLAIMER: Discussions on this list are informational and educational
only. Statements made on this list are not privileged, do not
constitute legal advice, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions
and policies of the ASF. See <http://www.apache.org/licenses/> for
official ASF policies and documents.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: legal-discuss-unsubscribe@apache.org
For additional commands, e-mail: legal-discuss-help@apache.org