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Date:      Fri, 10 Sep 1999 13:47:00 -0600
From:      Brett Glass <brett@lariat.org>
To:        Jonathan Lemon <jlemon@americantv.com>
Cc:        "Daniel O'Connor" <doconnor@gsoft.com.au>, chat@freebsd.org
Subject:   IP rights in contributed code (Was: Market share and platform support)
Message-ID:  <4.2.0.58.19990910134138.047b8870@localhost>
In-Reply-To: <19990910135329.20960@right.PCS>
References:  <4.2.0.58.19990910100024.047a4ce0@localhost> <4.2.0.58.19990909220642.04737670@localhost> <4.2.0.58.19990910100024.047a4ce0@localhost>

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At 01:53 PM 9/10/99 -0500, Jonathan Lemon wrote:

 >> You're right. But because Walnut Creek pays several employees to work
> > full-time on FreeBSD, their contributions are substantial. Yank them
> > -- or even some of them -- and production of an independent distribution
> > becomes difficult or even infeasible.
>
>Yes, but this isn't limited to WC.  What happens if I (or my employer)
>decides to "yank", as you put it, all the vm86 work?  Is it even legal
>to do this?

It depends. If you did the work on company time, your company owns it.
The copyright notice should therefore bear the COMPANY'S name and
say that the company is releasing it under the BSD license. And
this should be done with the company's explicit consent, so that it
can't renege later.

If that code bears a notice that says it's copyrighted by YOU, and that 
YOU are releasing it under the BSD license, there's now a problem. The 
company can say that the entire license is bogus, since you didn't have
the right to grant it in the first place.

If the work is done on your own time, with your own equipment, there
is no question that you can license it in any way you choose.

--Brett





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