Re: [Ksummit-discuss] [CORE TOPIC] Owning your own copyrights in Linux

[Steven Rostedt <rostedt@goodmis.org>]

[ Cc'd some that are not on this list ]

On Sun, 28 Aug 2016 10:00:54 -0700
James Bottomley <James.Bottomley@HansenPartnership.com> wrote:

> Regardless of the outcome of the GPL defence thread, I think we do
> mostly agree that distributed copyright ownership is useful in Linux,
> so I'd like to propose a practical topic on how individual developers
> can achieve this.  I'm afraid this will mostly be US centric (since
> that's where I've worked), but there's no reason we can't use similar
> techniques in other jurisdictions.  I've used three techniques over my
> career:
> 
>    1. Invention Disclosure Exceptions
>    2. Separate agreements for Copyright ownership (useful because they can
>       be negotiated even after you sign an employment agreement)
>    3. Modifications to the employment agreement itself.

I'd like to know more details of each of theses items.

> 
> I can describe each of these and the negotiating process, which will
> give real world examples for others to use.
> 
> In many ways, this would also be a good plumbers topic, but I can be
> much more frank in the closed day of kernel summit which is why it
> would be good to have the discussion there.
> 

After reading 80% of the GPL thread (it grows quicker than I can read
it), I was about to propose a "How to handle GPL infractions without
going nuclear" topic. One that would explicitly state, the topic would
not be about taking someone to court or even threatening a lawsuit.
That would make the topic non-legal and would not require everyone
bringing their own lawyer and beer. But it would discuss other ways to
handle a case where you know someone is in violation to your GPL work.
A lot of developers don't have the connections to influence a company,
or even the ability to start the conversation. We're not all a Greg KH.

Perhaps developers would want an organization like the Conservancy to
do the work for them. Perhaps those same developers can explicitly
state that they do not want to threaten lawsuits, but want to just find
a way to work with those companies and have them comply. It would be up
to the developers to decide when to go the legal route. In fact, the
Conservancy could work to convince the developers not to bring up
lawsuits, as Linus and Greg have mentioned that could make working
together in the future much more difficult. It sounds like the
Conservancy will listen to what we have to say at the Summit. A
discussion is a two-way street.

I think the GPL thread proved that there is a lot of misunderstanding
among the participants. Face-to-face discussions are much better, and
heated discussions like the GPL thread seldom get resolved over email.

I was one of the people that talked with Karen Sandler at LinuxCon, and
I recommended to her that if she wanted to speak at KernelSummit, that
she must go through the proper route and propose the topic on this
list. She went ahead and followed our rules, and that thread become the
largest of all the topics that have been proposed so far. Which to me
shows that there's a huge interest in what she has to say. Or at least
an interest in the topic itself.

When talking with Karen, it appeared to me that she just wanted to hear
what the kernel developers had to say. I know some people think it's
just a way to give her a soap box to stand on in front of the kernel
developers. My impression I got from Karen, was more of a way to give
the soap box to the kernel developers to express what they want to the
Conservancy. I'd like to have this discussion, and I do believe the
Kernel Summit is the proper venue for it. This is more of a process
topic, and KS has turned into a process conference over the last few
years.

If the topic is simply a discussion on how to handle GPL violations
without having to resort to legal actions, one doesn't need to be a
lawyer to have that talk. As Linus says, once a lawsuit is mentioned,
everyone turns into a turtle and hides in their shell. Lets have this
discussion not about having lawsuits but still getting companies to
comply to the GPL with diplomacy. I think that talk would be extremely
educational.

-- Steve