Questions tagged [ownership]
For questions about ownership of any component within an open project, including but not limited to, rights, intellectual property, and copyright.
37 questions
4
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1
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How to Comply With MIT Licensed SVG In Print
I have found an MIT licensed SVG that I wish to use in print, for instance a business card.
The relevant part of the MIT license:
The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be ...
- 141
12
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3
answers
2k
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Who owns code contributed to a license-free repository?
I have seen several different posts which suggest "code contributed to a repository inherits the license of the repository contributed to". It is not clear to me what this means when there ...
- 121
26
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2
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5k
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Why are open-source PDF APIs so hard to come by?
PDFs are inescapable, what surprises me is the lack of open-source tools available for interacting with them via some sort of API. One example which sticks in my mind was when I was using .NET to ...
- 371
2
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2
answers
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Is there any license which is based off on AGPL, but provides exemptions for the owner to allow others use it under a different license?
I have a set of libraries or framework that has been under development for more than a year by my team. We are finally nearing the completion of a few of these projects and want to release them as ...
- 31
2
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2
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1k
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GitHub repository ownership when working for a company
In the context of academic research, a company holds a GitHub account.
Researchers come and go, and many create a repository related to their research project, using open-source licenses such as GPL3.
...
- 159
0
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1
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57
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What happens if one developer makes code developed by several people open source?
If two people work on code together, what is to stop one of them from making it open source? Is the sole impediment the risk of legal action by the other?
- 101
3
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1
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76
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Can original author transfer rights for GPLv3 project to other person?
Let's have one guy who have been working on game and published it as GPL open source project.
After some time, community forks popped out, while original author got increasingly tired of his project ...
- 133
10
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2
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1k
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Excluding open-source contributions from work-for-hire
I'm doing contract work. I'm being asked to sign a standard (AFAICT) agreement that assigns all intellectual property I create to the employer. The context of this work is typical Python and Go ...
- 101
12
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1
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3k
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Who owns contributed code?
So, I contribute to a few projects, but the code I contribute is from ideas for my own projects.
So let's say I have Project A, and a competitor has Project B. I contribute code I wrote to Project B, ...
- 121
2
votes
1
answer
723
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Who is owner of code under GPL3?
In the header of GPLv3 wrote Copyright ... Free Software Foundation
GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
Version 3, 29 June 2007
Copyright (C) 2007 Free Software ...
- 131
2
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0
answers
41
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What are appropriate actions when particular linux project seems dead?
It seems no one reads email list, bugs and the last commit was in 2015. At the same time, the project is heavily used.
What would be the appropriate action to find new company to maintain the ...
- 121
4
votes
1
answer
102
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Copyright of proprietary code created by author of MIT licensed code
I have employed a developer for a project who has developed a CMS platform and licensed it under MIT license.
Now that developer is going to use that MIT licensed CMS in my project. No problem.
The ...
- 43
1
vote
1
answer
260
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Incorporate gpl2 code into software
I want to use code written by others and published under gpl2 license, on my software project. I was wondering what is the way to go about it. I hope to publish my software using the gpl3 license. I ...
- 113
10
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1
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2k
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Copyright notices and multiple developers
Suppose a big project with GPL license has several developers, most of whom working on a few source files. Is it appropriate/possible that the copyright notice in each source file include only the ...
- 201
2
votes
1
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238
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How much changes are required for the "editor" of an open source software to become the new owner?
I think I read somewhere that if you modify the source of a software enough, you become the owner ("author") of that source.
First I'd like to make sure that this is correct. If not, then the point ...
- 218
-2
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1
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271
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Bitbucket code ownership
Who is the owner of code uploaded from a personal account to a private Bitbucket repository and there is no license defined in the code, or there is only the name of the author in the header of the ...
-2
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2
answers
108
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What does happen with Open Source products after the acquisition?
Today IBM announces, on IBM News Room, that it'll acquire Red Hat.
What will be the impact on Open Source products part like: CentOS, Ansible etc?
Does IBM gain the power to limit the “Scientific ...
- 105
3
votes
1
answer
374
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How to add the name of my organization to a Mozilla Public License?
My organization made a Python module and would like to share it under the Mozilla Public License.
Is there a way to add the name of this organization to the license ?
If I use the license as is, ...
- 33
2
votes
1
answer
370
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If I share code from my personal project with my employer, who owns it?
I have code from a closed-source personal project of which I am the sole author. At work, I have come across situations where the code is useful.
I want to take a significant amount of code from my ...
- 469
2
votes
1
answer
103
views
GPL copyright owner copyleft [duplicate]
If a GPL owner decides to make their code close sourced, say to make a derivative work for themselves (maybe commercialize), what steps should they take?
If they need to rewrite their code, what ...
- 33
2
votes
1
answer
72
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Are there any places for abandoned repos to be transferred?
It's true that big outfits like Github aim to be around for at least the next decade or so, so arguably it's not a big deal for repos to just sit in user accounts. However, other questions make clear ...
- 161
4
votes
1
answer
93
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What are the disadvantages of distributing my commercial application along with Object code as per LGPL licence?
I am considering using a library licensed under LGPL which states...
If you link other code with the library, you must provide complete
object files to the recipients, so that they can relink ...
- 151
4
votes
1
answer
242
views
Do I still own code I donated to GPL project?
If I contribute code to a project that is under the GPL (or similar), can I still use my code (without any other parts that were contributed by other people) in a closed-source app? If yes, can I also ...
- 143
12
votes
1
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2k
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As owner of GPL library, can I break the licensing terms?
As far as I understand, choosing GPL licence for library does not permits use of it in proprietary programs as opposed to LGPL.
So releasing my library (or code classes), I'm forcing people to use ...
- 1,101
7
votes
1
answer
317
views
Help with getting permission to open source a small piece of software
If you are an employee, work you do in the course of your job (as opposed to in your spare time) is
a "work for hire" and the copyright is by default owned by the company you work for.
How do you go ...
- 650
6
votes
1
answer
218
views
How do I attribute authors if I don't know their real names?
I want to write an R package and release on CRAN. But I have concerns about legal issues: licensing and authorship/ownership.
Code of some functions in the package will be derived from or based on ...
- 225
6
votes
1
answer
3k
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Can I legally use code I found on a forum?
I want to write an R package and release on CRAN. But I have concerns about legal issues: licensing and authorship/ownership.
Code of some functions in the package will be derived from or based on ...
- 225
4
votes
2
answers
314
views
Can you use your own work in a closed source product if it's licensed under the GPL?
I'm new to licenses and don't really understand the difference between the license choices on GitHub.
If you license your own work under the GNU General Public License, does this mean you wouldn't be ...
- 505
23
votes
2
answers
33k
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Does the owner of the github repository own the copyright to the code?
Say I'm the only one uploading code to someone's private repository, do they own the copyright to the code? Or do I own the copyright to the code since I wrote it?
Would adding a license stating ...
- 399
5
votes
2
answers
204
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How should a codebase's original author be credited after they've transferred ownership of it?
A repository owner on GitHub transferred me ownership of a project he abandoned some time ago. I noticed the year in the license file is outdated (2014), and the original author's name is still ...
user5020
10
votes
2
answers
1k
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Own LGPL code in proprietorial project
I've written a library that I use in closed-source project. After a short discuss with my boss we have decided that this library can be useful for many others and we made this library open source ...
- 203
0
votes
1
answer
58
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License change in Affero licensed software
Some time ago I published the source code for a web application under the GNU AFFERO license, some people forked it and modified it in different ways.
Now I would like to modify the original version ...
- 3
6
votes
2
answers
672
views
Pull request ownership, who owns the code committed?
Say I create an Open Source project on Github licensed under e.g. LGPL like Qt. As I understand ownership of code, if I wrote a piece of code, I am free to change the license at a later point, as long ...
- 163
8
votes
5
answers
1k
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Acknowledging employer in an open source project
My employer has given me to permission to open source a component of a project that I have been working on, allowing me to retain ownership and control, with the condition that they be acknowledged in ...
- 363
3
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1
answer
73
views
Can copyright of an open sourced product be passed down through generations? [closed]
Background:
From other posts I have learned that copyrights expire some amount of time after the owner's death. But from what I know ownership can be passed on after death. If the owner of a ...
- 5,920
18
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Are you legally allowed to use abandoned projects?
Background:
While looking for open source projects I stumbled across a very interesting one. After further digging I found that it was also abandoned. PERFECT!! I can take over I thought, this led me ...
- 5,920
11
votes
1
answer
3k
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In an open sourced project who is the owner?
I am working on an open sourced project with some developers.
It occurred to me that I was not sure (legally) who the owner actually is due to it being an open source project.
Is the ownership spit ...
- 5,920