Re: Effect of transfer of copyright on free software licenses?

[Rjack]

Hyman Rosen wrote:
> Tim Smith wrote:
> > I wonder how many open source projects provide a written
> > instrument signed by the copyright owner?
>
> The GPL <http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/gpl.html> says All
> rights granted under this License are granted for the term of 
> copyright on the Program, and are irrevocable provided the stated 
> conditions are met.
>
> A court would be presented with evidence that it is industry
> practice to distribute under such licenses without signatures, and
> given the statement of irrevocable grant, would find that the
> nonexclusive license prevails.

Ahhhhh. Industry practice trumps laws passed by Congress! Since
Micro$oft dominates the industry, their practices trump the Copyright
Act. Hmmmmm.

Sincerely,
Rjack