Re: [PATCH] Add LICENSE for Connectathon test suite

["bfields@fieldses.org" <bfields@fieldses.org>]

On Mon, Feb 26, 2018 at 02:03:41PM -0500, Steve Dickson wrote:
> You forgot got to end with...  "grasshopper" ;-) 

Hah.

> I understand your point... but the old owners would not care if
> we put up a sign to invite more people to the picnic, true?
> 
> So I guess the main concern is if Google add the license they
> would own the code and could revoke the use of it down the
> road... hmm.
> 
> So since this code has never been licensed, it an never be licensed?

You don't have to do anything special to get copyright in something you
created[1].  And you can't give away copyright without explicitly saying
you are[2].  So the original authors of the code (or their employers)
still hold copyright.

So, no, nobody can just claim they're taking ownership and then use that
to revoke permissions later.

There was never any license on most of it, so we're just assuming we can
get away with continuing to use it the way we used to.

Yeah, I'm just an amateur here, but I'm not hearing anyone claiming to
be an expert, so we should let this be until one happens along.

--b.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_formalities#Shift_away_from_formalities

[2] https://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap2.html#204