Date: Fri, 23 Jan 2009 01:19:13 +0100 From: Ivan Voras <ivoras@freebsd.org> To: Robert Watson <rwatson@freebsd.org> Cc: svn-src-head@freebsd.org, jeff@freebsd.org, src-committers@freebsd.org, svn-src-all@freebsd.org, "M. Warner Losh" <imp@bsdimp.com> Subject: Re: svn commit: r187580 - head/tools/sched Message-ID: <9bbcef730901221619x390f3daau8104cf8912c4a237@mail.gmail.com> In-Reply-To: <alpine.BSF.2.00.0901222230430.66510@fledge.watson.org> References: <200901220621.n0M6LU5v002745@svn.freebsd.org> <20090122.104114.1927899760.imp@bsdimp.com> <alpine.BSF.2.00.0901221846230.66510@fledge.watson.org> <9bbcef730901221255u5767d16bo230da23542a171d7@mail.gmail.com> <alpine.BSF.2.00.0901222230430.66510@fledge.watson.org>
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2009/1/22 Robert Watson <rwatson@freebsd.org>: > On Thu, 22 Jan 2009, Ivan Voras wrote: > >> 2009/1/22 Robert Watson <rwatson@freebsd.org>: >> >>> FWIW, the one case where I don't really do that is when I worked on som= e >>> code on my own and hence hold the copyright for it, then did some work = under >>> a contract for a customer on it such that they own the copyright on >>> enhancements, and then I do some further work on my own. In that case,= I'll >>> leave a discontinuity to reflect the fact that the copyright on changes= made >>> in the gap were assigned elsewhere. Not clear this is the right thing = to >>> do, but I'm fairly sure at least some of my customers are more comforta= ble >>> with that as it leaves no confusion in the source as to which bits they >>> sponsored/own. >> >> Of course this is purely cosmetic as "one year" is a terrible granularit= y >> for commits to a moving target :) >> >> (i.e. legally it's worthless information) > > Sorry, that simply isn't the case, as copyright expiration doesn't track = the > exact moment at which something was created. Copyright law varies by > country, but US copyright law is of particular importance to the FreeBSD > Project, so I direct you to the US Copyright Office's rather helpful > circular 92, which provides a useful summary: > > =C2=A7 305. Duration of copyright: Terminal date > > All terms of copyright provided by sections 302 through 304 run to the e= nd > of the calendar year in which they would otherwise expire. > > So the year of creation really is the date that matters. And as nebulous = as > the far-off expiration of copyright dates may seem to you now, remember > that: (a) we work on software that includes copyrights almost 30 years ol= d, > and (b) copyright law has an annoying propensity to change out from under > you. Thanks! I'm not a lawyer (very obviously - no talent for it all :) ) and was probably wrongly interpreting the Geneva copyright convention. Can someone write a "practical guide to FreeBSD copyright matters for developers" somewhere - wiki perhaps? (it could also include GPL-related guidelines - GPLv3 even if there's consensus about it).
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