Re: SGI releases IA64 C C++ and F90 compiler under GPL

[Linus Torvalds <torvalds at transmeta dot com>]

In article <ork8gn5vsw.fsf@tamanduatei.dcc.unicamp.br> you write:
>On May 21, 2000, Marc Espie <espie@quatramaran.ens.fr> wrote:
>
>> Giving away your copyright to the FSF means the code will be distributed
>> under the GPL only. 
>
>Nope.  You're free to keep distributing your code with whatever
>license better suits you, because the copyright assignment says so:
>while you assign copyright to the FSF, FSF grants you the right to do
>whatever you want with the code you're assigning.

I'm not convinced.

Yes, the standard assignment says that you can ask for (in writing) the
permission to use your code any way you want, and that the FSF will
automatically grant you that right within 30 days.  Or something to that
effect. 

However, I would seriously talk to a lawyer before I did that. Really. 

As long as you are the copyright holder, you can do anything.  You can
release the code under any license you want, so you can release it under
both the GPL and a BSD license or whatever.  This is obviously a good
thing.  You're in control.  You're not just a user allowed to use the
code: you own it. 

But once you have transferred your copyright, you lose that right.  The
FSF assignment still means that you can _use_ it - the FSF is bound to
grant you that right.  But without talking to a lawyer, I would advice
against trying to re-release it under a different license, for example. 
You're no longer the owner, you're just another user.  You're a special
user (no other user can use it in any other way than the GPL), but I
think you may have just lost the right to license it further. 

I'm not a lawyer. I don't even play one on TV. I just do not think it is
obvious and clear-cut. 

And I for one still suggest that people use whatever license they want,
but they should not assign their copyright to anybody else unless they
really really want to.

		Linus