Re: Copyright Assignment

[FSF Copyright Assignment Clerk <assign at gnu dot org>]

The form that Diego Novillo sent is applicable to individuals, and
does contain at least one question that bears thinking about - namely,
is your work based on anything outside of the GCC distribution?  Is there
any other organization or individual that might have a claim on this work?

Other than that, I assume it is not very applicable, since this is work 
owned by Fujitsu-Siemens and not by any one individual.

Below is our standard corporate copyright assignment form.  This version
we use for companies to assign changes already made, to one particular GNU
program/package.  (GCC, GDB, and Binutils are considered to be separate packages.)
You might want to show this to the lawyers.

We also have a standard form that would assign future changes as well, which
would allow Fujitsu to be an ongoing contributor to GNU projects; if you want,
I can send that as well.  There are various ways to set that up so that your
lawyers are happy with it.

Anyways, below is the standard 'one time' copyright assignment.

- Brian Youmans, FSF copyright clerk

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The way to assign copyright to the Foundation is to sign an assignment
contract.

Below is the assignment contract that we usually use.  You would need
to print it out, have an appropriate person sign it, and snail it to:

Copyright Clerk
Free Software Foundation
59 Temple Place Suite 330
Boston, MA 02111
USA
			    ASSIGNMENT

   For good and valuable consideration, receipt of which is
acknowledged, <such and such corp> (the "Assigner"), hereby transfers
to the Free Software Foundation, Inc. (the "Foundation") its entire
right, title, and interest (including all rights under copyright) in
its changes and enhancements to the computer program <name>, including
changes in accompanying documentation files and supporting files as
well as changes in actual program code, subject to the conditions
below.  These changes and enhancements are herein called the "Work".
The work hereby assigned shall also include any future revisions of
these changes and enhancements hereafter made by the Assigner.

   The Foundation grants the Assigner non-exclusive rights to use the
Work (i.e. the changes and enhancements, not the program which was
enhanced) as it sees fit; this grant does not limit the Foundation's
rights.

   For the purposes of this contract, a work "based on the Work" means any
work that in whole or in part incorporates or is derived from all or part of
the Work.

   The Foundation promises that all distribution of the Work, or of any
work "based on the Work", that takes place under the control of the
Foundation or its agents or assignees, shall be on terms that explicitly and
perpetually permit anyone possessing a copy of the work to which the terms
apply, and possessing accurate notice of these terms, to redistribute copies
of the work to anyone on the same terms.  These terms shall not restrict which
members of the public copies may be distributed to.  These terms shall not
require a member of the public to pay any royalty to the Foundation or to
anyone else for any permitted use of the work they apply to, or to communicate
with the Foundation or its agents in any way either when redistribution is
performed or on any other occasion.

   The Foundation promises that any program "based on the Work" offered to
the public by the Foundation or its agents or assignees shall be offered in
the form of machine-readable source code, in addition to any other forms of
the Foundation's choosing.  However, the Foundation is free to choose at its
convenience the media of distribution for machine-readable source code.

   The Foundation promises to give or send the Assigner, upon reasonable prior
notice and payment of a fee no more than twenty times the cost of the
necessary materials and postage, a copy of any or all of the works "based on
the Work" that the Foundation offers to the public or that it has offered
within the past six months, or that it distributed for the first time within
the past six months.  For works that are programs, the machine-readable source
code shall be included.  Such a request shall detail whether the Assigner wish
to receive all such works or specific works.  The choice of works to request
may affect the cost and therefore the fee.

   The Assigner hereby agrees that if it has or acquires hereafter any
patent or interface copyright or other intellectual property interest
dominating the program enhanced by the Work (or use of that program), such
dominating interest will not be used to undermine the effect of this
assignment, i.e. the Foundation and the general public will be licensed to
use, in that program and its derivative works, without royalty or
limitation, the subject matter of the dominating interest.  This license
provision will be binding on the assignees of, or other successors to, the
dominating interest, as well as on the Assigner.

   The Assigner hereby represents and warrants that it is the sole copyright
holder for the Work and that it has the right and power to enter into this
contract.  The Assigner hereby indemnify and hold harmless the Foundation, its
officers, employees, and agents against any and all claims, actions or damages
(including attorney's reasonable fees) asserted by or paid to any party on
account of a breach or alleged breach of the foregoing warranty.  The Assigner
makes no other express or implied warranty (including without limitation, in
this disclaimer of warranty, any warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A
PARTICULAR PURPOSE).

For the Assigner,
<name and title>
<signature and date>


For the Free Software Foundation,
Richard Stallman, President:



[Please write your snail address here, so I can snail a copy back to you.]