kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[Cirilo Bernardo <cirilo_bernardo@xxxxxxxxx>]

>________________________________
> From: Jon Neal <reportingsjr@xxxxxxxxx>
>To: KiCad Developers <kicad-developers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> 
>Sent: Friday, August 22, 2014 7:38 AM
>Subject: Re: [Kicad-developers] KiCad build.
> 
>
>
>Looking from the outside that is very aggressive, harsh, and childish. I thought you were stepping away from the project Dick (At least that is what you said a few weeks ago). Maybe it is best to let more than just yourself offer an opinion on this.
>Is there a reason ANY of the code in KiCad is copyright anyone except KiCad itself? Other projects I have worked on did not allow copyright by anyone except for the project itself.
>>
>> Jon Neal
>>


That would be plain weird and contrary to Copyright law in any country. Depending on jurisdiction, copyright belongs to all authors or else all authors with 'substantive contribution'. In the case of GNU source code the FSF asks all contributors to transfer copyright to the FSF, which requires a legal document. Simply saying that a project 'owns' copyright is 100% pure nonsense. Only a legal entity such as individuals and a corporation can claim copyright. Simply changing the copyright statement on Dick's work is a clear violation of copyright so of course he's furious about it. He's already made huge contributions at his own expense and receives little thanks - is he expected to tolerate people stealing his work as well?

- Cirilo