On Jul 20, 2013, at 12:49 PM, John Cowan wrote:
> Mike Milinkovich scripsit:
>
>> So you are asserting that by getting a single patch accepted into the Linux
>> kernel that I can, under US copyright law, re-license the entire work? As
>> long as I share any proceeds equally with all other copyright holders of
>> course.
>
> In principle. However, a judge might well decide that that was not enough
> to make you a joint author. Judges aren't computers.
>
To clarify, a joint owner could authorize use of the work under a license that
is different from the original license, but that doesn't effect a change of the
license altogether. The original license, from the other joint author(s),
remains, so what you really would have is a dual-licensed work - admittedly
still suboptimal, but the joint author couldn't remove the open source license
altogether. And John points out in principle a patch could create a joint work,
but I expect it would take a much more substantial contribution than that. I
don't think someone can realistically come along and hijack a project by
submitting a few minor changes.
Pam
Pamela S. Chestek, Esq.
Chestek Legal
PO Box 2492
Raleigh, NC 27602
919-800-8033
pam...@chesteklegal.com
www.chesteklegal.com
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