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Re: Copyright status of example code in Bugzilla - how to dealwith when writing testcases.
- From: Daniel Berlin <dberlin at dberlin dot org>
- To: Florian Weimer <fw at deneb dot enyo dot de>
- Cc: Robert Dewar <dewar at adacore dot com>, Zack Weinberg <zack at codesourcery dot com>, Andrew Pinski <pinskia at physics dot uc dot edu>, Mike Stump <mrs at apple dot com>, gcc at gcc dot gnu dot org, Toon Moene <toon at moene dot indiv dot nluug dot nl>
- Date: Tue, 29 Mar 2005 10:06:33 -0500
- Subject: Re: Copyright status of example code in Bugzilla - how to dealwith when writing testcases.
- References: <200503281751.j2SHpndg001006@earth.phy.uc.edu> <87sm2fpryf.fsf@codesourcery.com> <42486F96.70001@adacore.com> <87u0mur274.fsf@deneb.enyo.de>
On Tue, 2005-03-29 at 15:50 +0200, Florian Weimer wrote:
> * Robert Dewar:
>
> > Unfortunately, you can't rely on sane judges, since the plaintiff can
> > always demand a jury trial, and you would be surprised what juries think.
> > Furthermore, deleting the test case makes no sense as a remedy. Either
> > there is or there is not a copyright violation. The judge could only
> > require the removal of the test case if there is a copyright violation,
> > but then the plaintiff is entitled to substantial compensation without
> > having to show any harm.
>
> Even if the plaintiff submitted the test case in the first place, for
> inclusion or not?
In reality, a person who submits code knowing it is going to be
distilled and used in testsuites under our license would probably be
estopped from claiming it violates their copyright to do so. They are
going to have to show that they had on idea this would happen, which is
somewhat difficult.
IE if we added a very large warning to the submission page that said
"PLEASE NOTE: BY SUBMITTING A TESTCASE, YOU AGREE THAT WE HAVE THE RIGHT
TO CREATE, USE, AND PUBLISH EITHER YOUR VERBATIM TESTCASE OR A
DERIVATIVE UNDER GCC'S CURRENT LICENSE"
or something of the sort, they would be very hard pressed to win in a
real lawsuit in court.