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> The CLA is usually a way for the contributor to renounce their copyright I don't know about other countries, but you actually cannot renounce your copyright
by KPGv2 2y ago
> The CLA is usually a way for the contributor to renounce their copyright
I don't know about other countries, but you actually cannot renounce your copyright under American law. It is an impossibility.
The only way your own code can belong irrevocably to someone else is if you are contracted under a work-for-hire arrangement or if you are an employee of the other entity when you produce the work. (Or if you die and your heirs become the new owners)
If you were to write code and then later submit it to a project (say, via PR), they cannot retroactively implement a work-for-hire arrangement.
In all other cases, the creator is the copyright owner forever. That status cannot be assigned to anyone else. (Except to one's heirs upon death.)
A CLA is a licensing agreement (that's the "LA" part!), where you license your own copyrighted material to another entity, and it's often in perpetuity.
But here's the trick: under US law, an author or author's heirs (i.e., copyright holders in non-WFH situations) can revoke a license in certain situations. The provisions allowing this exist specifically so that non-remunerative licenses (i.e., ones the copyright owner didn't get paid to license) can be revoked.
You can read about some of these termination provisions in 17 USC 203, 304(c), and 304(d).
- ianburrell 2y agoCopyright can be transferred in the US. I think you are confused from copyright can’t be destroyed to put work public domain.
- thfuran 2y agoIndeed they can https://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-assignment.html https://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-assignment.html
- KPGv2 2y agoI never said you cannot transfer copyright. I said you cannot irrevocably give it up. And this is true: under US law, after 35 years you can reclaim your copyright
- nulbyte 2y agoTaking the most sensible meaning of renounce, the court in Micro Star v. Formgen opined exactly the opposite of what you claim: "It is well settled that rights gained under the Copyright Act may be abandoned." https://casetext.com/case/micro-star-v-formgen-inc https://casetext.com/case/micro-star-v-formgen-inc As for reclaiming a transferred copyright, it's possible, but complicated. It also takes at least 35 years, which is likely too long to be of practical use to most folks.
- palata 2y agoDoes that mean that all those projects using CLAs may end up at some point with someone saying "I want you to remove the part of your codebase for which I have a copyright"? I mean in practice nobody will ever be able to do that, just like most licences are just completely ignored. But I mean in theory?