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I feel like if it was unrelated to their official work they wouldn't use a google.com address?

geofft 8y ago
That doesn't tell you much - it's not unrelated to their official work, it's just not related to company priorities. If it's a project you work on at / for work, copyright is likely still owned by the employer. See also the number of personal projects that are not official Google projects at https://github.com/google https://github.com/google .
raphlinus 8y ago
No, the policy is to use your google.com address, with some exceptions[1]. This confuses a lot of people, as things done for fun by one person on weekends (maybe not even official 20% time) are mixed in with official projects. [1]: https://opensource.google.com/docs/patching/ https://opensource.google.com/docs/patching/
- mehrdadn 8y ago
  Is this for patches that occur on your own time without company resources? Even in jurisdictions (like CA) where they can't enforce ownership over what you did?
  - geofft 8y ago
    I am neither a Googler nor a laywer, but I think yes and yes - if you don't care about copyright ownership and only licensing (which most of the time is fine - you usually only care if you either want to commercialize it later or you want to make sure either you have standing to sue infringers or Google doesn't), there's an easy process for open-sourcing something and letting Google retain ownership, and a much more involved process for confirming that Google doesn't own it. So it's easier to let Google claim copyright and not argue about whether they really have had ownership. Some relevant links are https://opensource.google.com/docs/releasing/ https://opensource.google.com/docs/releasing/ for the personal-project-with-Google-copyright flow and https://opensource.google.com/docs/iarc/ https://opensource.google.com/docs/iarc/ for the personal-copyright flow.
jchw 8y ago
No, we use our @google.com address for anything that might fall under the copyright assignment rules of our employment agreement. I won't debate whether those rules are actually enforceable - I have no idea - but if you're actually curious, the documentation is mostly public. https://opensource.google.com/docs/releasing/ https://opensource.google.com/docs/releasing/
- mehrdadn 8y ago
  I see, thanks!

That doesn't tell you much - it's not unrelated to their official work, it's just not related to company priorities. If it's a project you work on at / for work, copyright is likely still owned by the employer. See also the number of personal projects that are not official Google projects at https://github.com/google https://github.com/google .

raphlinus 8y ago

No, the policy is to use your google.com address, with some exceptions[1]. This confuses a lot of people, as things done for fun by one person on weekends (maybe not even official 20% time) are mixed in with official projects. [1]: https://opensource.google.com/docs/patching/ https://opensource.google.com/docs/patching/

mehrdadn 8y ago
Is this for patches that occur on your own time without company resources? Even in jurisdictions (like CA) where they can't enforce ownership over what you did?
- geofft 8y ago
  I am neither a Googler nor a laywer, but I think yes and yes - if you don't care about copyright ownership and only licensing (which most of the time is fine - you usually only care if you either want to commercialize it later or you want to make sure either you have standing to sue infringers or Google doesn't), there's an easy process for open-sourcing something and letting Google retain ownership, and a much more involved process for confirming that Google doesn't own it. So it's easier to let Google claim copyright and not argue about whether they really have had ownership. Some relevant links are https://opensource.google.com/docs/releasing/ https://opensource.google.com/docs/releasing/ for the personal-project-with-Google-copyright flow and https://opensource.google.com/docs/iarc/ https://opensource.google.com/docs/iarc/ for the personal-copyright flow.

jchw 8y ago

No, we use our @google.com address for anything that might fall under the copyright assignment rules of our employment agreement. I won't debate whether those rules are actually enforceable - I have no idea - but if you're actually curious, the documentation is mostly public. https://opensource.google.com/docs/releasing/ https://opensource.google.com/docs/releasing/

mehrdadn 8y ago
I see, thanks!