[glob2-devel] who has copyright in glob2 (was: Version 3 of GPL license issued yesterday)

[Joe Wells]

donkyhotay <address@hidden> writes:

> FYI my name is kevin but admittedly I rarely use it online. I just read
> the GPL FAQ a few days ago and I would recommend everyone to read it but
> here is my understanding of the parts that affect us. First of all in
> order for something to be placed under GPL it must BE copyrighted and
> the author must state somewhere that it is copyrighted and under the
> GPL. If the person just says it's under the GPL but doesn't mention that
> it's copyrighted, the software can't be protected by the GPL and can
> legally be "stolen" (since the copyright is the only legal way to assert
> GPL rights). Now while it has never been officially stated I would
> assume anyone who didn't bother to list themselves in the authors page
> would fall under the catagory of not bothering to copyright their glob2
> submissions and therefore we can do whatever we want with it (like put
> it in our program and license it under GPL3).

It is good that you want to help with the process of updating to the
GPL version 3, but what you write above is false and following your
suggestion could cause serious problems.

A person does not need to make a statement about copyright in order to
have copyright.  They just need to have authored some material.  The
Berne convention on copyright (which most countries have joined) makes
this clear.  In particular countries, whether you make a statement of
copyright can affect the amount of damages you can claim for copyright
infringement, but it can not affect whether you have the copyright.

-- 
Joe