Re: Licensing and copyright

[Jean-Michel POURE <jm poure com>]

Le Jeudi 19 Février 2004 21:34, Rob Adams a écrit :
> The FSF has some general guidelines on prudent measures for handling
> copyright for GPL projects, but GNOME does not seem to follow these
> guidelines.  For example, the FSF recommends for many GNU projects that
> contributors assign their copyrights to the FSF to make enforcement of
> the GPL easier.

Dear Rob,

Are you asking if it makes sense to assign copyrights (owned by individuals 
scattered in several countries, protected by their local constitutional and 
author rights in more than 200 different countries)
...
to ONE SINGLE organization registered in the U.S.A. ?

In my opinion and I can only speak for myself, it seems more interesting to 
take advantage of local laws (European, Indian, Brazilian, etc...).

I like the FSF and I the United-States for several reasons. But I do not trust 
the American laws, because they do not respect individual liberties.

The day that you hand over your author rights to an American organization, you 
will not be able to travel safely in the States and may get arrested for any 
reason, including the DMCA.

Is that what you are proposing to us?

Furthermore, but this is only a very small issue: the notion of copyright is 
completely different in the States and in Europe. In France, for example, you 
cannot hand over a copyright forever or should at least get paid for it. In 
most countries, handing over copyrights forever is not permitted. 

On the converse, it seems relevant that American citizen hand over their 
copyrights to the FSF if they wish to. It may be safer for them.

Cheers,
Jean-Michel