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Copyright assignment lets the entity take full management of the copyright including license enforcement etc. The idea of assignment to FSF is not merely to gu
by quadrangle 7y ago
Copyright assignment lets the entity take full management of the copyright including license enforcement etc.
The idea of assignment to FSF is not merely to guarantee to the world that the original copyright holder won't offer competing licenses or something.
- dwohnitmok 7y agoRight, but my original question remains. How would the FSF allow the original copyright holder to claw back the copyright after assignment? That seems like it would be potentially incredibly disruptive (e.g. if a contributor decides several years after a lot of work has been built on top of the contributed code to claw back the rights), especially because as far as I'm aware there isn't a separate license you give the FSF on a contribution, just the assignment. AFAICT it wouldn't even make sense to give the FSF a license because you don't own the code anymore, the FSF does. I can't find anything on the FSF website that allows this.
- brlewis 7y agoProbably a separate license is given to the FSF as a condition for assigning the copyright back. Then having a lot of work built on top of the original contribution would actually help the FSF, because then they'd have standing to enforce copyright on the derived work.
- cycloptic 7y agoIt's part of the agreement you sign with them. The agreements are not public AFAIK, you'll only see them when you contact someone to assign the copyright. Yes it would be inconvenient if someone did that, but that's additional incentive for the FSF to make sure they do the right thing.