Copyright reassignment

Legal Requirements

Please be advised, that this information was written by a non-lawyer and as such is not legally binding, nor should it be taken that way. This is not legal advice, not can it be assumed to be in any way authorative.

GnuCOBOL is a GNU free software project, under copyright by the Free Software Foundation Inc.

That means that any and all resources that are part of the GnuCOBOL source repository must be under the legal ownership of the FSF. There can't be any exceptions to this.

How this is accomplished is through Copyright Reassignment documents, signed by authors and legally binding.

All authors. If you want to contribute code or other resources that are distrubuted as part of GnuCOBOL, then reassignments must be in place.

What this means

GnuCOBOL is licensed under the GNU General Public License, GPL, and the GNU Lesser (or Library) General Public License, LGPL. That license has one major goal. To protect end user freedoms. The freedom to run the software for any purpose, the freedom to change the software to suit individual purpose, the freedom to distribute copies that you recieve, and the freedom to distribute copies that you change.

The GPL is worded to protect those four basic freedoms with software, where the user controls the program and not the other way around.

The authors behind the project have assigned the legal rights of GnuCOBOL to a third party, the Free Software Foundation, and that legal entity now has the rights, burdens, and obligations to take action if anyone attempts to restrict those freedoms from anyone else.

As an individual, you are allowed to change GnuCOBOL, and share those changes if you desire. But the project needs a rights holder, and that rights holder is now the FSF Inc. So, official GnuCOBOL sources are as a whole, under copyright by the FSF. Those copyrights are to protect freedom; go ahead and exercise that freedom. But the project needs to stay whole and official sources are only released once copyright reassignments have occured.

You are encouraged to use, learn from, and share GnuCOBOL, you are encouraged to help your neighbour, to use, learn from, and share GnuCOBOL. Everyone is encouraged to make GnuCOBOL do what they want it to do.

But, for offically released software, as a project, contributors need to sign legal documents to keep GnuCOBOL as a whole under one rights holder.

The Request Forms

Below are two forms that you can use to request the more formal legally binding paperwork that ensures the FSF maintains copyright over the GnuCOBOL source kit. The requests come in two forms, the first is the more general, now and future, reassignment request.

The other format is a request for a one-off reassignment. That legal document covers one specific change or set of changes. The implications to the one-off reassignment is that any new contributions that may be desireable to publish would require another round of signatures. Not to dissuade anyone from single form contributions, but the now and future form will allow the project to accept new contributions without requiring another round of legal transfer and associated signature paperwork.

To make it easier on the clerical staff at assign@gnu.org be sure to mention GnuCOBOL in the subject line of any email. Someone from the Free Software Foundation legal department will then mail paper forms back to you for signing, and will request a facsimile by email, along with an envelope sent back to them with signed forms included. (The cost of postage for the signed return forms is assumed by the contributor a small price to pay for being a good, and wise, and powerful citizen - depending on the country you live in email or fax will be usable, too.)

Request Assign (future)

The request-assign.future template.

Please email the following information to assign@gnu.org, and we
will send you the assignment form for your past and future changes.

Please use your full legal name (in ASCII characters) as the subject
line of the message.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

REQUEST: SEND FORM FOR PAST AND FUTURE CHANGES

[What is the name of the program or package you're contributing to?]

[Did you copy any files or text written by someone else in these changes?
Even if that material is free software, we need to know about it.]

[Do you have an employer who might have a basis to claim to own
your changes?  Do you attend a school which might make such a claim?]

[For the copyright registration, what country are you a citizen of?]

[What year were you born?]

[Please write your email address here.]

[Please write your postal address here.]

[Which files have you changed so far, and which new files have you written
so far?]

Request Assign (changes)

And the request-assign.changes template

Please email the following information to assign@gnu.org, and we will
send you the assignment form that covers the changes you have already
written.  That form will cover subsequent corrections to those
changes, but it will not cover other unrelated future changes to the
same program.

Please use your full legal name (in ASCII characters) as the subject line of the message.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
REQUEST:  SEND FORM FOR CHANGES ALREADY MADE

[What is the name of the program or package you're contributing to?]

[Did you copy any files or text written by someone else in these changes?
Even if that material is free software, we need to know about it.]

[Do you have an employer who might have a basis to claim to own
your changes?  Do you attend a school which might make such a claim?]

[For the copyright registration, what country are you a citizen of?]

[What year were you born?]

[Please write your email address here.]

[Please write your postal address here.]

[Which files have you changed so far, and which new files have you written
so far?]

More information can be found in the gnulib project space under doc/copyright/
http://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/gnulib.git/tree/doc/Copyright

These two forms are attached to this wiki page. As these templates are sent to legal departments you are asked to not make any changes to the wording, but only fill in the blank spaces. This helps keep all the paperwork in proper order.

Yes, this paperwork is a bit of a hassle, and you will be formally reassigning rights to another entity, but this is all in the name of the protection of everyone's freedom; yours, mine, and those not yet born. Protecting freedom requires a fair amount of effort. The more we all put in, the more we all enjoy.

Once again, please be advised that this page was written by an individual that is not a lawyer. The people that respond will have legal training and more authority to answer any questions you may have. Go ahead and ask if you'd like more clarification, and the staff at the FSF will be more than happy to oblige.