(migrated from programmers.SX)
I'm placing a copyright notice with some (FOSS) license in a LICENSE
file in a software package I'm publishing; or it's a license block in a source file.
It starts like this:
Copyright
<YEAR>
<COPYRIGHT HOLDER>
Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted etc. etc. etc.
Ok, so, the year is the year I'm creating the license file / block. That one's easy. But - how should I identify myself, the copyright holder? Obviously, I'm going to write my name, but:
- Do I specify an affiliation, even if I, rather than the organization, am the holder? e.g. a research institute I work at?
- Do I specify an address, or a town/city name?
- Do I write an email address?
- If so, what if that address is tied to an organization/company, which I've not listed and is not the copyright holder?
- And what if I only have those problematic kinds of email addresses?
- If the answer to both previous questions is "no", what's to distinguish me, John Smith, from all the other John Smith's out there?