Re: [Bug-cssc] Fwd: GNU CSSC 1.3.1 is released

[Joerg Schilling]

James Youngman <address@hidden> wrote:

> > The general problem is that looking at the issues with the background of an
> > english mothertonge may give a different result than not doing so:
>
> Well, perhaps that is a _general_ problem.   But it isn't a problem
> specifically here.  The Berne convention is published in English.

I am living in Germany, so the European law system applies and in special:

        http://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/urhg/

        see: http://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/urhg/__29.html


> >        The official translation for "Copyright" is "Urheberrecht"
> >
> > But:
> >
> >        Urheberrecht =  Nutzungsrechte + Autorenrechte
> >                        (Copy rights + Authorship rights)
> >
> >        Copyright =     Copy rights
> >
> > so
> >        Urheberrecht != Copyright
> >
> > and from what I have been told by lawyers...: you cannt be sure that a US 
> > judge
> > will regard the Berne convention or the German Urheberrecht even though he 
> > would
> > need to.
>
> I'm not sure why you invoke a hypothetical US judge to defend your
> claim that signing a copyright assignment would be "forbidden by law
> in Europe".
>
> In any case, the Berne Convention is now US law also, and has been
> since March 1, 1989.
> http://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/Remarks.jsp?cnty_id=1045C
>
> Even in the hypothetical case that a US judge were to ignore Berne
> Convention Implementation Act of 1988, that still doesn't make signing
> a copyright assignment "forbidden by law in Europe" as you suggested.

In case I need legal advise, I usually ask lawyers......

I did e.g. in 1994 and in order to be sure that I get a correct answer, I first 
asked the local bar association that told me that there are two good lawyers
that are specialized in "Urheberrecht and IT"... I payed one of them for an 
advise and he told me that works written before 1992/1993 when there was a 
mutual Copyright agreement between the US and Europe/Germany will not have 
protection by law in the respective other country. Do you like to tell me that 
I received a wrong advise from this lawyer?


> > Fortunately this is about OpenSource and if the OpenSource Definition
> > (from http://www.opensource.org/docs/definition.php) applies to some code,
>
> It's not about the OSD at all.   I asked if you would be willing to
> sign a copyright assignment and you objected on the grounds that it
> was forbidden.   The OSD is a red herring here.

I made an offer for collaboration and I offered you that you could use code I 
was going to write. You told me that you like to get more rights than I offered.
This looks a bit strange to me, in special as there is no need for additional 
rights in an OSS ecosystem.

If we have been talking abut code written _for_ "CSSC", your wish may be 
reasonable. The code I did offer, however has been written for "SCCS" and thus
is code that belongs to a different project. If you like to use it in/for your
project, you are still welcome. 


BTW: could you please explain what you understand by "here" in "The OSD is a 
red herring here."?

Jörg

-- 
 EMail:address@hidden (home) Jörg Schilling D-13353 Berlin
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       address@hidden (work) Blog: http://schily.blogspot.com/
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