[Openstack-docs] Copyright statements in docs source files

Colin McNamara colin at 2cups.com
Tue Jan 14 23:42:19 UTC 2014


Technically Copyright is the right to dictate who makes copies of your works, and under what conditions. 
For example, the Copyright holder has the right to license content/code under the Apache2.0 license so that it can be consumed under the very permissive, but specific use cases dictated under the license.

For example (per my understanding.. I am not a lawyer, but have OpenSourced for pay products in the past) if someone distributed Apache2.0 licensed code without attribution, then the original copyright holder would have the ability to file suit against the infringer and recover damages.

That ability to recover damages if the code is used outside of the limits of Apache2.0 is something that lawyers love, and allows the corporate world to release code. 

As for the Aptira example, I was using them as an example of how Copyrighted materials, that were providing material value to to a company were released under the Apache2.0 license to the OpenStack community, and had a huge impact to me personally, and I believe eventually the world. I cannot speak for Tristan and others. But in my own experience, keeping lawyers happy is key to successfully releasing code in a meaningful way.
Regards,

Colin

Colin McNamara
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On Jan 14, 2014, at 4:28 PM, Nicholas Chase <nchase at mirantis.com> wrote:

> Well, the whole point of this is that the docs are open source docs; they are licensed in such a way that anyone, anywhere, should be able to do whatever they want with proper attribution and subsequent licensure.  Fair use/asking for approval doesn't enter into it, as far as I understand.
> 
> ----  Nick
> 
> On 1/14/2014 2:54 PM, Nermina Miller wrote:
>> Hence my questions :) How DO you deal with such requests?
>> 
>> On Jan 14, 2014, at 2:47 PM, Rich Bowen <rbowen at redhat.com
>> <mailto:rbowen at redhat.com>> wrote:
>> 
>>> 
>>> On 01/14/2014 02:41 PM, Nermina Miller wrote:
>>>> When I worked on manuals for an international association, I used to
>>>> check the copyright policy of each company whose material we used for
>>>> support. They varied. In some cases, you could paraphrase, in some
>>>> only quote. They also had specific notes you were required to use
>>>> whether in text, footnote, or reference list. So, there are some
>>>> specifics that are important to state for those who want to write
>>>> tutorials, blog posts, and larger bodies of work.
>>> 
>>> Absolutely, but I presume that none of those products were Open
>>> Source. That changes the game.
>>> 
>>> We're not a software company. We're an Open Source project.
>>> 
>>> --
>>> Rich Bowen -rbowen at redhat.com
>>> OpenStack Community Liaison
>>> http://openstack.redhat.com/
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Openstack-docs mailing list
>>> Openstack-docs at lists.openstack.org
>>> <mailto:Openstack-docs at lists.openstack.org>
>>> http://lists.openstack.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/openstack-docs
>> 
>> 
>> 
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> 
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