Date: Wed, 20 Dec 95 11:59 WET From: uhclem%nemesis@fw.ast.com (Frank Durda IV) To: current@freebsd.org, jkh@freefall.freebsd.org Subject: Re: conf.c and USL copyright at top Message-ID: <m0tSSnz-000CB9C@nemesis.lonestar.org>
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[2]The ground shaketh and jkh said to the people: [2]OK, so it was a mistake to add code to encumbered files. No argument [2]from anybody on that point, I'm pretty sure. However, do we just [2]throw up our hands in defeat? I surely hope not! Your analysis below [2]would certainly suggest to me that removing the USL copyright is now [2]an option we can realistically entertain. It's not even remotely [2]"derived" from now. In our CVS tree, we're no worse off than before. [2]In our exported tree, it's one less encumbered file, right? According to the lawyers at two major corporations I have worked at, if you have changed more than 12% of the functional code, it's yours. (Changing variable names and comments don't count.) Apparently the 12% is some magic number applied to adaptations of novels and music by the US Copyright Office. Ever notice how a piece of music written three hundred years ago has a 1976 copyright? Well, someone wrote a descant consisting of a dozen held notes and Walla! In the US you get a free copyright on the "new" work, even though probably nobody will play that variation at all. Well these software company lawyers says the same rule applies to all works that can exist on paper and software falls in that category. Even if we all agree that it is no longer contains USLs code (or the faintest shadow of USLs code), should we at least give credit (but no copyright) to USL, much in the same way we ask for credit in the BSD Copyright if someone "rips to shreds" but uses our code? Perhaps a simple "Thanks to USL for their original work on %s" would suffice. Or perhaps credit the person actually responsible, rather than USL which wasn't even around when this stuff was written. Frank Durda IV <uhclem@nemesis.lonestar.org>|"I'm not a lawyer, but I sound or uhclem%nemesis@fw.ast.com (Fastest Route)| like one." - Firesign theatre ...letni!rwsys!nemesis!uhclem |"I'm not a lawyer, but I got ...decvax!fw.ast.com!nemesis!uhclem | deposed by one." - ME
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