Re: [hpoj-devel] new I/O driver coming soon (second try)

[Joe P. <joe...@sn...>]

On Thursday 01 March 2001 01:29, David wrote:

<...>
>
> In the meantime, I'd like to take this opportunity to solicit ideas and
> feedback on a particular license/copyright issue.  I intend to license
> ptal-mlcd under the GPL, as has been done already with the rest of the hpoj
> package, to guarantee its status as free software.  The difference here is
> that some of the code in ptal-mlcd (in particular, the portion that
> actually implements the MLC/1284.4 transport) is also used by HP in non-GPL
> products. That in and of itself isn't a problem, since as the copyright
> holder HP may license the code simultaneously under the GPL as well as
> under a traditional proprietary license.  The problem arises when accepting
> contributions to this code from outside of HP, because I need to be able to
> incorporate those changes into the non-GPL version.  This makes my job much
> easier, since I'm responsible for maintaining both versions, and I want to
> keep them consistent for now to facilitate further updates.  I plan to
> handle this issue by requiring people who contribute changes to the
> transport portion of ptal-mlcd to assign copyright of the changes to HP,
> probably either by signing and sending in a paper form agreeing to this (as
> Sun does with http://openoffice.org), or by including with each submitted
> patch a canned statement to this effect.

David:

I'm glad that HP has supported you in your efforts regarding the hpoj 
project. It has resulted in many improvements. 

In spite of recent statements from HP about being "ready to walk the walk", 
it still seems a little wobbly.

It seems to me that if HP really wants Linux/*BSD, etc. to support its 
products, it would gratefully supply any necessary information to developers 
willing to help make it possible. I don't yet see that happening.

HP should definitely not (IMO) attempt to force open source contributors to 
give away their own Intellectual Property for what amounts to no 
compensation. Few people (if any) would be willing to do so under those 
conditions.

The IP 'transfer' plan reads like it was influenced by HP lawers attempting 
to adhere to some general policy. If that's the case, maybe Bruce Perens 
could have a chat with them.


>
> Keep in mind that the intent here is not to take unfair advantage of
> anybody's efforts.  In addition to making it easier for me to maintain, it
> also makes it easier for HP to defend against copyright infringement;
> otherwise, we would have to get every copyright holder to become involved.

An alternative would be for everyone who contributed to the project 
(including HP) to assign to the Free Software Foundation the IP rights to 
their contributions, with HP promising to pay for defending against 
infringement, whatever the source. It probably could be justified as a tax 
write-off. I doubt HP will agree to do that, though. I only say it because if 
it could be done, it might satisfy most people's concerns, including those of 
HP that you stated above.


> I would like to know if anybody has comments or concerns regarding this
> copyright-assignment proposal.  At the very least it will apply to the
> MLC/1284.4 portion of ptal-mlcd, and it may apply to the entirety of
> ptal-mlcd.  I haven't yet decided if it will apply to other parts of the
> codebase that I (and by extension HP) contributed.  However, I personally
> am planning on transferring my copyrights (i.e. on PTAL) to HP, since my
> involvement is finally becoming officially sponsored by HP, as opposed to
> its being a personal project the way it has been for me so far.  Most of
> the other code (ieee12844, ojlib, apps/print, and apps/cmdline) will go
> away in 0.8 (being replaced by PTAL equivalents), so there won't be any
> question about that in the first place.  The only remaining part of the
> codebase that I didn't develop would be xojpanel.  I think it will be fine
> to keep the copyright on xojpanel the way it is currently (unless Joe and
> Andreas really want to transfer it).

My IP rights to xojpanel (about 95% of the code plus graphics) won't be given 
to HP.

>
> Thanks in advance for any comments on these matters, and stay tuned for the
> actual code in the near future, assuming there isn't so much dissent here
> that I have to go back to the drawing board.  :-)
>

I'm not familiar with the LGPL, but Robert's suggestion sounds like it should 
be taken seriously.

-- 
Joe