[cgl_discussion] New draft of PoC restructuring proposal

Wilson, Andrew andrew.wilson at intel.com
Mon Oct 28 14:59:59 PST 2002


<snip>

Well, where would the kernel be today if the community had to sign a
Participant Agreement?

<end snip>

There are many well-known open source and free software projects with
participant's agreements.
To name just the first few that pop to mind, you must sign an assignment of
copyright to contribute code to the GNU Project.  Ditto to
Sun for Open Office.  The Xfree86.org bylaws require contributors to assign
applicable copyrights and patents.  Etc., etc., etc.  The kernel is actually
rather unique in its laissez-faire attitude toward IP.  Let's hope this
never comes back to bite us....  In the meantime, when starting a new open
source effort,
it just seems prudent to take care of any IP ownership questions right up
front.

Cheers

atw

... Not speaking for Intel Corporation.



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