"In a dual model, all external contributors are required to re-assign their copyrights (and sometimes all of their IP rights) to the open source company." If i

"In a dual model, all external contributors are required to re-assign their copyrights (and sometimes all of their IP rights) to the open source company." If it's GPL as usual - you are free to fork the project and do whatever you want with it (within the terms of the license) If you want to contribute to my project, that I started, however, and want it in my source tree, then I might want copyright assigned to me for a variety of reasons. Whether or not other developers will care about this depends on the project, their level of interest, and the relative contribution they perceive themselves as making to the overall product. Unfair and debilitating? I don't think so - but people absolutely should be aware of the licensing commitments they are making.