Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive!udel!rochester!rutgers!banana!mips!troi!wookie!allan From: allan@dbaccess.com (C. Allan Rofer) Newsgroups: comp.protocols.iso.dev-environ Subject: SUMMARY: Ownership of ISODE Code Keywords: Ownership ISODE Message-ID: <390@wookie.dbaccess.com> Date: 5 Jun 91 16:31:03 GMT Organization: DB Access Inc., Santa Clara, CA Lines: 102 Summary of responses: - There were two requests for any information that I may find out; evidently some (few) others are concerned. - There was one negative response from someone who has "been around this issue for years". He claims that "nobody owns ISODE so nobody can give you the right to do anything." I could not get through to him via email, but I would be interested in finding out how his "legal folks" can justify their risk-taking. Conclusions: 1. The origination of ISODE code is clouded. 2. There have been no tracking systems put into place to ensure that the originator's rights to the code have been passed to the ISODE group. 3. Commercial use of ISODE by any company is subject to risk of future claims of origination and intellectual property rights by the originators. Recommendation: I recommend to the new consortium that distributes this code that they resolve the ownership and origination problems if a goal of the ISODE code is to be used in commercial products. Original posting: Subject: Ownership of ISODE code Status: R We are building an application using ISODE code and we have come upon a problem. There appears to be no way we can track the originality of the source code; therefore, we cannot testify as to the owner of the code nor to the rights of the distributor of the code to license it to anyone. This could lead to some very nasty situations where the original owner comes around to "claim his/her rightful possessions". As we are all aware, the intellectual property rights issues in software can be very cloudy. My questions for discussion: 1. Who owns the code (and therefore has the right to distribute it)? Note: Marshall Rose will not respond except to point me in the direction of the manual preface, which is, of course, useless for answering this question. 2. Is there some agreement that each contributor signs regarding the disposition of the code? If not, why do you think the ISODE group has the right to distribute the code? 3. What are other companies who distribute products with ISODE code doing about this originality issue? Are they liable for surprises? I am manifestly interested in seeing the use of ISODE code throughout the computer community; witness the fact that I am using it myself. However, I think that these origin issues need to be resolved before companies who worry about these issues can participate. Thanks. Note: I have sent a question about this to bug-isode@nisc.psi.net and received no response. If you send reply by email, I will summarize. Response: From: cwm@palo-alto.ca.us (Chris Moore) Message-Id: <9105211644.AA00805@sooner.palo-alto.ca.us> To: allan@wookie.dbaccess.com Subject: Re: Ownership of ISODE code Newsgroups: comp.protocols.iso.dev-environ In-Reply-To: <9105172345.AA14811@wookie.dbaccess.com> Organization: - Cc: Status: R In article <9105172345.AA14811@wookie.dbaccess.com> you write: >This could lead to some very nasty situations where the original owner >comes around to "claim his/her rightful possessions". As we are all >aware, the intellectual property rights issues in software can be very >cloudy. You are not going to find any tangible evidince to support a claim to originality on ISODE. I've been around this issue for years - on both sides of the fence. Nobody "owns" ISODE so nobody can give you the right to do anything. You might argue that Marshall is ISODE but he won't get anywhere close to signing anything. In the past, after having similar frustrations folks have sat down with the legal folks and explained the situation. Once everyone understands the situation it is just a matter of working the text of a license statement, etc. - Chris -- C. Allan Rofer INTERNET: allan@dbaccess.com c/o DB Access Inc. UUCP: {uunet,mips}!troi!allan 2900 Gordon Avenue, Suite 101 FAX: (408) 735-0328 Santa Clara, CA 95051 TEL: (408) 735-7545