Re: [libiberty copyright assignment audit] cp-demangle.c status

[Joe Buck <jbuck at synopsys dot com>]

In the end, it is up to the FSF to decide what legal risks it wishes
to take, to address hypothetical concerns such as those raised by Robert
Dewar (that a statement in a file might be false).  In tricky cases,
RMS will consult the FSF's lawyer.

I think that the way to handle this is simply the way Nathanael has
been doing it: do an audit, and for any anomolies try to ascertain the
history of the file.  If the FSF is satisfied that it owns the file,
it can direct us to modify comments in the file appropriately.


On Mon, Aug 04, 2003 at 06:49:12PM -0400, Nathanael Nerode wrote:
> What authentication problem?  This is the version of the file 
> distributed by the FSF and read by people modifying it.  See above for 
> why I think it constitutes evidence (when it's present).
> 
> People who modified the file while it did not contain such a statement,
> could reasonably have been under the impression that it was not part of 
> GCC and was not affected by the copyright assignment.  Similarly, the 
> FSF could reasonably have been under the same impression (they weren't 
> distributing anything making definite claims to the contrary).  Hence, 
> there's an ambiguity.  
> 
> I believe it would probably be concluded that the file was, in fact, 
> "part of GCC", but having the statement should provide more evidence 
> that it was, for the purposes of the copyright assignments.

I think that this is good enough, but the decision-maker here should be
RMS, since the FSF will be taking any legal risks if mistakes are made.

> The FSF's lawyers should probably decide what *their* opinion on this 
> topic is, and what they consider sufficient evidence that the copyrights
> were assigned, disclaimed, or nonexistent.  (I wouldn't be surprised if 
> they decided that they didn't need anything additional, on the grounds that 
> the people involved all agree that the FSF holds sole copyright -- but 
> I don't actually know what they would decide in practice.)

Exactly.  Our legal opinions don't really matter much here.