H�kan Waara wrote:
> Taking the opportunity to ask a question I've been wondering about:
> what about NPL? Does Netscape own that source regardless of its
> contributors?
No, if by "own" you mean "holds copyright". If a non-Netscape person
contributes new material to a source file originally licensed under the
NPL, then the copyright on that new material is held by that person (or
their employer). However under the NPL Netscape would have special
rights to relicense that new material under a different license.
By creating the new material and distributing it under the NPL, the
non-Netscape person or their employer is effectively giving permission
to Netscape to have these special rights. This is pretty much
unavoidable in cases where the new material constitutes a modification
(in the NPL sense) to material already licensed under the NPL -- the
only alternative would be not to distribute the new material at all.
However for brand-new material, e.g., new source files, the contributor
is not obligated to license it under the NPL, but could (and IMO should)
use the MPL instead.
Frank
P.S. Again with the disclaimer: I am not a lawyer, and this is not legal
advice. Also, I am speaking for myself and not necessarily for mozilla.org.
--
Frank Hecker
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
