Re: Another job for the Gnome Foundation ?

[kelly poverty bloomington in us]

On Mon, 21 Aug 2000 21:19:58 -0400, rms39@columbia.edu (Russell Steinthal) said:

>The problem is future, rather than older versions, at least as I see
>it.  If I write code and release it under the GPL, I am doing so with
>the understanding that the license requires all derivative works
>based on that code to be GPL'ed. If I assign the copyright to someone
>else, however, that expectation ceases to be: the assignee could
>release a proprietary version of the software which I wrote.

As long as you are the original author of the code, this is true.  If
you are not the original author, then your obligations under the GPL
transfer to the assignee or licensee, either on the GPL's own terms or 
under principles of privity of covenant.

In any case, there are ways to deal with this.  One is to transfer the
code subject to a reversion; if the grantee ever licenses the code
under a license other than the GPL (or under such other terms as you
see fit to stipulate), ownership reverts to you. Reversions are be
reviewable by a court for reasonability, however, and "limitations on
alienability" are presumptively unreasonable, so this might not work.
Another is to grant an exclusive license rather than actually
transferring ownership; if the exclusive license is used in a manner
you disapprove of, you can always cancel it.  Since an exclusive
licensee stands in the stead of the licensor legally, this would serve 
the same purpose as assignment without actually being an assignment.

Kelly