Re: The real issue behind copyright assignment (was Re: Licensing and copyright)

[Jean-Michel POURE <jm poure com>]

> Though I suppose the FSF does not have the
> same rights as the Queen of England in 1707 and thus likely cannot order a
> beheading.  So in fact by that logic, if you transfer copyright of your
> non-evil code (to avoid problems during any beheadings should they occur)
> to FSF, then the chance of a beheading happening is lessened substantially
> and F will not sue A (you).

If I assign copyrights to FSF in France, only G (a judge in France) can ask 
questions of legality. Unless a revolution happens, I will not get beheaded.

People love Free Software and therefore are very enthousiastic
when it comes to donating their work to the FSF Massachussets.

But, they are closing their eyes to reality:

1) Their work belongs to FSF Massachussets and falls under American laws.

2) Because authors are maintaining their work (sometimes everyday), they will 
be responsible in front of American courts for any serious legal issue other 
than copyright.

In particular in cases of physical injuries or accidents. And they will have 
to show-up in person. This is the reason why I wrote: "SWIM, SWIM PINGUIN".

Two months ago, I was discussing with a large American company with offices in 
France. They have ported their medical imaging software to GNU/Linux 
operating system. Previously, they were using closed operating systems. The 
graphical interface is not under Gnome. But one day, somewhere else, it could 
be Gnome.

For legal reasons, they wanted me to stress the GNU/Linux machines and review 
their port. We did not come to a conclusion for a question of price, as they 
had less than xxx.yyy dollars for such a large work (code review). Maybe a 
six months work for several people. 

For me (a stupid guy), this shows two things:

- Even in the medical environment, GNU/Linux is replacing other vendors. So 
why not in nuclear plants. The overall stability of GNU/Linux is essential 
for them.

- Because GNU/Linux will be rapidly gaining over 90% of market shares during 
the next 15 years, the statistics for a problem is more likely to be 1 rather 
than 0. The American company knows it and therefore wanted us to test their 
product.

Therefore, nerver ***ever*** assign your rights to the FSF Massachussets. The 
American citizen in the FSF have to understand that we cannot be aware of all 
existing laws in the United-States. 

At least, if you prefer to be in contact with F (a judge in your country) and 
not G (an American judge).

Cheers,
Jean-Michel