cvs commit: hugs98 License

[Jeffrey R Lewis]

On Tuesday 19 November 2002 18:32, Sigbjorn Finne wrote:
> ok, I've now rolled most of the dists, and won't redo them
> just to incorporate this one, I'm afraid.
>
> --sigbjorn
>
> btw, I try to stay blissfully ignorant of these kinds of issues, but
> what's the correct/legal thing to do re: extending copyright dates
> on evolving software?  Most parties named in this copyright notice
> doesn't participate nor contribute any longer, but indirectly get the
> recognition of doing so by extending the copyright.

Take this non-legal position with the appropriate grain of salt:

Unless the people contributing to the evolution of the software maintain =
their contributions solely as patches, then the evolved software is a der=
ivative of the original, and thus the copyright remains with them.

For the copyright to begin to rest with a different, or reduced, set of a=
uthors, an actual transfer of copyrights would have to take place.  I'm g=
uessing this hasn't happened.

So, the right still rests with the original set of authors, and at least =
*some* of them are still participating, so the rest get to go along for t=
he ride.

If *none* of the original copyright holders were still participating, the=
n it would be inappropriate to change the copyright date.

--Jeff