Replace Contribution Agreement - STEMLab/geotools GitHub Wiki
-
Contact: Jody Garnett
-
Tracker: https://osgeo-org.atlassian.net/browse/GEOT-4381 Replace Contribution Agreement
-
Tagline: contemplating contrubution
In the last year we have had a bit of confusion around our contribution
agreement, and
have recently received feedback that it was unsuitable for use.
Now we can speculate about why that is (for example it may just require thought by a legal
department who are otherwise paid not to take risks), but speculation is not productive.
The solution is to go with a battle hardened agreement that is "easy" for others to adopt.
With that in mind:
1) Adapt the well respect Apache Contribution Agreement(s)
http://www.apache.org/licenses/icla.txt
http://www.apache.org/licenses/cla-corporate.txt
2) Change the organisation to Open Source Geospatial Foundation
3) Change license to LGPL
We have an example of similar approach here:
https://www.qubit-toolkit.org/wiki/Contribute_code
One key advantage of this approach is the use of an [email protected] email address providing an avenue for electronic contribution agreement submissions, rather than only snail mail.
The following is proposed:
The Open Source Geospatial Foundation
Individual Contributor License Agreement ("Agreement") V1.0
http://www.osgeo.org/licenses/
Thank you for your interest in The Open Source Geospatial Foundation
(the "Foundation"). In order to clarify the intellectual property license
granted with Contributions from any person or entity, the Foundation
must have a Contributor License Agreement ("CLA") on file that has
been signed by each Contributor, indicating agreement to the license
terms below. This license is for your protection as a Contributor as
well as the protection of the Foundation and its users; it does not
change your rights to use your own Contributions for any other purpose.
If you have not already done so, please complete and sign, then scan and
email a pdf file of this Agreement to [email protected]. Alternatively,
you may send an original signed signed Agreement to:
Attn: Contributor Agreements
The Open Source Geospatial Foundation 14525 SW Millikan #42523
Beaverton, Oregon, United States 970052343
Please read this document carefully before signing and keep a copy for
your records.
Full name: ______________________________________________________
(optional) Public name: _________________________________________
Mailing Address: ________________________________________________
________________________________________________
Country: ______________________________________________________
Telephone: ______________________________________________________
E-Mail: ______________________________________________________
(optional) preferred osgeo id(s): ______________________________
(optional) notify project: ______________________________________
You accept and agree to the following terms and conditions for Your
present and future Contributions submitted to the Foundation. In
return, the Foundation shall not use Your Contributions in a way that
is contrary to the public benefit or inconsistent with its nonprofit
status and bylaws in effect at the time of the Contribution. Except
for the license granted herein to the Foundation and recipients of
software distributed by the Foundation, You reserve all right, title,
and interest in and to Your Contributions.
1. Definitions.
"You" (or "Your") shall mean the copyright owner or legal entity
authorized by the copyright owner that is making this Agreement
with the Foundation. For legal entities, the entity making a
Contribution and all other entities that control, are controlled
by, or are under common control with that entity are considered to
be a single Contributor. For the purposes of this definition,
"control" means (i) the power, direct or indirect, to cause the
direction or management of such entity, whether by contract or
otherwise, or (ii) ownership of fifty percent (50%) or more of the
outstanding shares, or (iii) beneficial ownership of such entity.
"Contribution" shall mean any original work of authorship,
including any modifications or additions to an existing work, that
is intentionally submitted by You to the Foundation for inclusion
in, or documentation of, any of the products owned or managed by
the Foundation (the "Work"). For the purposes of this definition,
"submitted" means any form of electronic, verbal, or written
communication sent to the Foundation or its representatives,
including but not limited to communication on electronic mailing
lists, source code control systems, and issue tracking systems that
are managed by, or on behalf of, the Foundation for the purpose of
discussing and improving the Work, but excluding communication that
is conspicuously marked or otherwise designated in writing by You
as "Not a Contribution."
2. Grant of Copyright License. Subject to the terms and conditions of
this Agreement, You hereby grant to the Foundation and to
recipients of software distributed by the Foundation a perpetual,
worldwide, non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free, irrevocable
copyright license to reproduce, prepare derivative works of,
publicly display, publicly perform, sublicense, and distribute Your
Contributions and such derivative works.
3. Grant of Patent License. Subject to the terms and conditions of
this Agreement, You hereby grant to the Foundation and to
recipients of software distributed by the Foundation a perpetual,
worldwide, non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free, irrevocable
(except as stated in this section) patent license to make, have
made, use, offer to sell, sell, import, and otherwise transfer the
Work, where such license applies only to those patent claims
licensable by You that are necessarily infringed by Your
Contribution(s) alone or by combination of Your Contribution(s)
with the Work to which such Contribution(s) was submitted. If any
entity institutes patent litigation against You or any other entity
(including a cross-claim or counterclaim in a lawsuit) alleging
that your Contribution, or the Work to which you have contributed,
constitutes direct or contributory patent infringement, then any
patent licenses granted to that entity under this Agreement for
that Contribution or Work shall terminate as of the date such
litigation is filed.
4. You represent that you are legally entitled to grant the above
license. If your employer(s) has rights to intellectual property
that you create that includes your Contributions, you represent
that you have received permission to make Contributions on behalf
of that employer, that your employer has waived such rights for
your Contributions to the Foundation, or that your employer has
executed a separate Corporate CLA with the Foundation.
5. You represent that each of Your Contributions is Your original
creation (see section 7 for submissions on behalf of others). You
represent that Your Contribution submissions include complete
details of any third-party license or other restriction (including,
but not limited to, related patents and trademarks) of which you
are personally aware and which are associated with any part of Your
Contributions.
6. You are not expected to provide support for Your Contributions,
except to the extent You desire to provide support. You may provide
support for free, for a fee, or not at all. Unless required by
applicable law or agreed to in writing, You provide Your
Contributions on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS
OF ANY KIND, either express or implied, including, without
limitation, any warranties or conditions of TITLE, NON-
INFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY, or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
7. Should You wish to submit work that is not Your original creation,
You may submit it to the Foundation separately from any
Contribution, identifying the complete details of its source and of
any license or other restriction (including, but not limited to,
related patents, trademarks, and license agreements) of which you
are personally aware, and conspicuously marking the work as
"Submitted on behalf of a third-party: [named here]".
8. You agree to notify the Foundation of any facts or circumstances of
which you become aware that would make these representations
inaccurate in any respect.
Please sign: __________________________________ Date: ________________
If anything has been missed above please edit this wiki page.
The following is proposed:
The Open Source Geospatial Foundation
Software Grant and Corporate Contributor License Agreement ("Agreement") V1.0
http://www.osgeo.org/licenses/
Thank you for your interest in The Open Source Geospatial Foundation
(the "Foundation"). In order to clarify the intellectual property license
granted with Contributions from any person or entity, the Foundation
must have a Contributor License Agreement (CLA) on file that has been
signed by each Contributor, indicating agreement to the license terms
below. This license is for your protection as a Contributor as well
as the protection of the Foundation and its users; it does not change
your rights to use your own Contributions for any other purpose.
This version of the Agreement allows an entity (the "Corporation") to
submit Contributions to the Foundation, to authorize Contributions
submitted by its designated employees to the Foundation, and to grant
copyright and patent licenses thereto.
If you have not already done so, please complete and sign, then scan and
email a pdf file of this Agreement to [email protected]. Alternatively,
you may send an original signed signed Agreement to:
Attn: Contributor Agreements
The Open Source Geospatial Foundation 14525 SW Millikan #42523
Beaverton, Oregon, United States 970052343
Please read this document carefully before signing and keep a copy for
your records.
Corporation name: ________________________________________________
Corporation address: ________________________________________________
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
Point of Contact: ________________________________________________
E-Mail: ________________________________________________
Telephone: _____________________ Fax: _____________________
You accept and agree to the following terms and conditions for Your
present and future Contributions submitted to the Foundation. In
return, the Foundation shall not use Your Contributions in a way that
is contrary to the public benefit or inconsistent with its nonprofit
status and bylaws in effect at the time of the Contribution. Except
for the license granted herein to the Foundation and recipients of
software distributed by the Foundation, You reserve all right, title,
and interest in and to Your Contributions.
1. Definitions.
"You" (or "Your") shall mean the copyright owner or legal entity
authorized by the copyright owner that is making this Agreement
with the Foundation. For legal entities, the entity making a
Contribution and all other entities that control, are controlled by,
or are under common control with that entity are considered to be a
single Contributor. For the purposes of this definition, "control"
means (i) the power, direct or indirect, to cause the direction or
management of such entity, whether by contract or otherwise, or
(ii) ownership of fifty percent (50%) or more of the outstanding
shares, or (iii) beneficial ownership of such entity.
"Contribution" shall mean the code, documentation or other original
works of authorship expressly identified in Schedule B, as well as
any original work of authorship, including
any modifications or additions to an existing work, that is intentionally
submitted by You to the Foundation for inclusion in, or
documentation of, any of the products owned or managed by the
Foundation (the "Work"). For the purposes of this definition,
"submitted" means any form of electronic, verbal, or written
communication sent to the Foundation or its representatives,
including but not limited to communication on electronic mailing
lists, source code control systems, and issue tracking systems
that are managed by, or on behalf of, the Foundation for the
purpose of discussing and improving the Work, but excluding
communication that is conspicuously marked or otherwise designated
in writing by You as "Not a Contribution."
2. Grant of Copyright License. Subject to the terms and conditions
of this Agreement, You hereby grant to the Foundation and to
recipients of software distributed by the Foundation a perpetual,
worldwide, non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free, irrevocable
copyright license to reproduce, prepare derivative works of,
publicly display, publicly perform, sublicense, and distribute
Your Contributions and such derivative works.
3. Grant of Patent License. Subject to the terms and conditions of
this Agreement, You hereby grant to the Foundation and to recipients
of software distributed by the Foundation a perpetual, worldwide,
non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free, irrevocable (except as
stated in this section) patent license to make, have made, use,
offer to sell, sell, import, and otherwise transfer the Work,
where such license applies only to those patent claims licensable
by You that are necessarily infringed by Your Contribution(s)
alone or by combination of Your Contribution(s) with the Work to
which such Contribution(s) were submitted. If any entity institutes
patent litigation against You or any other entity (including a
cross-claim or counterclaim in a lawsuit) alleging that your
Contribution, or the Work to which you have contributed, constitutes
direct or contributory patent infringement, then any patent licenses
granted to that entity under this Agreement for that Contribution or
Work shall terminate as of the date such litigation is filed.
4. You represent that You are legally entitled to grant the above
license. You represent further that each employee of the
Corporation designated on Schedule A below (or in a subsequent
written modification to that Schedule) is authorized to submit
Contributions on behalf of the Corporation.
5. You represent that each of Your Contributions is Your original
creation (see section 7 for submissions on behalf of others).
6. You are not expected to provide support for Your Contributions,
except to the extent You desire to provide support. You may provide
support for free, for a fee, or not at all. Unless required by
applicable law or agreed to in writing, You provide Your
Contributions on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS
OF ANY KIND, either express or implied, including, without
limitation, any warranties or conditions of TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT,
MERCHANTABILITY, or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
7. Should You wish to submit work that is not Your original creation,
You may submit it to the Foundation separately from any
Contribution, identifying the complete details of its source and
of any license or other restriction (including, but not limited
to, related patents, trademarks, and license agreements) of which
you are personally aware, and conspicuously marking the work as
"Submitted on behalf of a third-party: [named here]".
8. It is your responsibility to notify the Foundation when any change
is required to the list of designated employees authorized to submit
Contributions on behalf of the Corporation, or to the Corporation's
Point of Contact with the Foundation.
Please sign: __________________________________ Date: _______________
Title: __________________________________
Corporation: __________________________________
Schedule A
[Initial list of designated employees. NB: authorization is not
tied to particular Contributions.]
Schedule B
[Identification of optional concurrent software grant. Would be
left blank or omitted if there is no concurrent software grant.]
If anything has been missed above please edit this wiki page.
The following proposed text for osgeo.org/licenses
Open Source License
***\
The Open Source Geospatial Foundation projects are all freely available and useable under an OSI-certified open source license.
*
*
Contributor License
***\
*Each OSGeo project has its own procedure for accepting contribution of documentation, ideas and code. *
*
*
The following contribution licenses are available to projects seeking to assign copyright directly to the Open Source Geospatial Foundation:
- Individual Contribution License Agreement
- Corporate Contribution License Agreement
Ben Caradoc-Davies:
This new agreement also appears to introduce a maintenance overhead in that corporate entities seem to have to designate authorised employees who are able to contribute. In my organisation, the exercise of this authority will have to occur at the same level as the initial agreement and may introduce a delay between a developer starting and being authorised to make contributions.
Furthermore, not all contributions from a corporation are by employees. My team includes developers employed by other entities under contracts that assign all intellectual property to my organisation, which then in turn assigns rights to OSGeo. I am not sure how this situation is accommodated by this agreement.
PMC support:
- Andrea Aime +1
- Ben Caradoc-Davies +1
- Christian Mueller
- Ian Turton +1
- Justin Deoliveira
- Jody Garnett +1
- Simone Giannecchini
Community support:
- Chris Holmes expressed support for this direction on geotools-devel
- Frank Warmerdam passed on the suggestion that "might want to start over using a stock agreement such as Apache's"
This section is used to make sure your proposal is complete (did you remember documentation?) and has enough paid or volunteer time lined up to be a success
-
Put together the new contribution agreement\
- ✅ See individual contributor agreement above
- ✅ See corporate contributor agreement above
-
Submit to OSGeo board for discussion and approval\
- ✅ Q: Is [email protected] for email correct? A: Use [email protected]
- ✅ Q: Do we have a fax number for the foundation? A: No.
- ✅ Q: Do we need to contact pervious contributors? A: No previous contributors clearly provided code to the foundation so we are good.
- ✅ Q: Do we need to contact current contributors? A: Perhaps, if only so we are all operating on the same terms & conditions.
-
Add to the developer documentation\
- ✅ Create TXT files
- ✅Attach to comitters page
-
Update OSGeo website\
- ✅ Create web
page http://www.osgeo.org/content/foundation/legal/licenses.html\
- Added the explicit version numbers of apache licenses we are derived from
- ✅ Host the two attachments
- ✅ Create web
page http://www.osgeo.org/content/foundation/legal/licenses.html\
-
Contact current individual contributors to sign the new paper work\
- Print, sign, scan (or photo), email to [email protected]
-
Contact current contributing organisations to sign the new paper work\
- Print, sign, scan (or photo), email to [email protected]
list the pages effected by this proposal
The Developer Guide updates:
- http://docs.geotools.org/latest/developer/roles/commit.html - need to attach and link to PDFs