Hi Nirk, I would like to reiterate that this file is probably of negative value to you: I have mentioned this is *not a Microsoft Office file* and therefore seems unlikely to be a good test case for your project.
I am disappointed that I have to go into this: regardless of any terms of ownership between SFU and myself, the ASF and the POI project are not party to those terms. In any case, as it happens I'm aware of the terms from SFU and sought such clarification immediately upon enrolment. This content was a talk I gave as part of a special topics discussion course and not as "homework". The terms can be seen at http://www.sfu.ca/policies/gazette/research/r30-03.html - specifically, section 5.1 applies: "5.1 Although the University has the right to require assignment of an interest in IP created by a University Member through the use of its resources, the full ownership of IP and all rights pertaining to ownership are vested in the Creator, unless the Creator has entered into an agreement with the University to the contrary." There are several exceptions listed, none of which apply to this file. This is my IP, and more importantly it is not yours, nor Raiko's, nor do you have license from SFU. Other than that I think we agree about the legal situation. The waters are not muddy, you do not have license to this file. Please remove it from your svn history or inform me that you don't intend to do so. On Thu, Dec 12, 2013 at 4:40 PM, Nirk Niggler <[email protected]>wrote: > Chris: > > A cursory google search reveals that this was part of a class project and > is publicly available at > http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~anoop/courses/CMPT-882-Fall-2002/chris.ppt, which > somewhat muddies the waters (you'd have to get clarification from your > school regarding the IP rights associated with class homework and projects). > > Eric: > > While there is no obvious confidential information in the document, the > original contributor Raiko Eckstein violated the terms of the bugzilla < > https://issues.apache.org/bugzilla/createaccount.cgi> > > > "Certify that any object code, source code, patch, documentation, etc. > that you may supply to an Apache project can be redistributed under the > same license terms and conditions as the project itself." > > That alone should be grounds for removal. > > > > On Thu, Dec 12, 2013 at 7:14 PM, Eric Peters <[email protected]> wrote: > >> I have nothing to do with the POI Apache project, other than being a user, >> never contributed, nor have anything to associate other than being on this >> mailing list - but I'd say chill the f*** out. >> >> The relative harms for the debug test file is probably negligible, and in >> the grand scheme of things, its probably not using your IP at all, rather >> the factual bytes that were generated by OpenOffice, or usable under US >> Fair Use, as long as the (which is the same/similar file type to MS >> Powerpoint, which is sort of the point of the example file) >> >> Your copyright standpoint on the file, its feasible to recreate the PPT to >> re-illustrate the failed code, that might have some similarities to your >> original file but not be a byte-by-byte representation of the code, and it >> wouldn't pass a copyright muster (assuming you even filed for copyright >> protections) >> >> Take a deep breath, and find something productive to do. >> >> -Eric >> >> >> On Thu, Dec 12, 2013 at 10:56 AM, Chris Demwell <[email protected]> >> wrote: >> >> > Hi, >> > >> > In 2007, someone uploaded my IP to your bug tracker in >> > https://issues.apache.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=41357 - that person >> did >> > not have license to use my IP, and therefore you also do not. You >> continue >> > to host that file in your svn: >> > >> > >> http://svn.apache.org/repos/asf/poi/trunk/test-data/slideshow/PictureLengthZero.ppt- >> > please remove it from your svn history. >> > >> > I would also point out that someone sending you a file to help you >> solve a >> > bug does not automatically or implicitly grant the legal right to use >> the >> > file for any other purpose, store, and certainly not republish the file. >> > You are likely illegally republishing other files as part of the test >> > directory in your svn and I humbly suggest that your only course of >> action >> > is to remove those files that you do not explicitly know that you are >> > licensed to redistribute. >> > >> > Much more collegially, that PPT was an export from OpenOffice.org (ie, >> not >> > created by MS Powerpoint) and therefore may not be an appropriate test >> file >> > for your project. I'm sorry if this has caused you any consternation in >> > designing or maintaining your project. Thanks for your contributions to >> > open source software - while I don't use POI I still have great respect >> for >> > your work. >> > >> > Thanks, >> > >> > Chris Demwell >> > >> > >
