Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!bloom-beacon!apple!rutgers!bellcore!faline!thumper!ulysses!hector!eric From: eric@hector.UUCP (Eric Lavitsky) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.tech Subject: Re: CBM's Blessing? Give me a break... Message-ID: <10686@ulysses.homer.nj.att.com> Date: 3 Oct 88 18:28:31 GMT References: <3458@crash.cts.com> Sender: netnews@ulysses.homer.nj.att.com Reply-To: eric@hector.UUCP (Eric Lavitsky) Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories Lines: 87 In article <3458@crash.cts.com> haitex@pnet01.cts.com (Wade Bickel) writes: >ewhac@well.UUCP (Leo 'Bols Ewhac' Schwab) writes: >>In article <3447@crash.cts.com> haitex@pnet01.cts.com (Wade Bickel) writes: >>>Also, having read the Working group proposal, what incentive do we have to >>>join? [ ... ] >>> >> Fame, something to put on your resume, adoration from Amiga >>developers everywhere. >> >> I can't see Commodore being completely unappreciative of a valuable >>contribution to their products, nor would I expect people to turn over such >>projects to Commodore without some sort of renumeration. >> > > Sure, but from what I read in the Working Groups proposal, it was not >clear that the participants in the project had any rights to the resulting >code. It is one thing to do something and make it PD, and quite another to >be part of a WG. I'd hate to have to ask Commodore for the write to use my >own code :^(. Wade - No where in the proposal does it say that any code or documents become the sole property of Commodore-Amiga. In fact the document goes out of it's way to make this clear at the *beginning* of the document: ------------ 2.3 Ownership Of Work Performed By Amiga Working Groups Any work performed by an AWG shall be the property of the developer community at large with the AWG Steering Committee acting as the agent of the developer community. The AWG Steering Committee shall grant free perpetual use licenses to any member of the developer community wishing to have access or use of any material developed by the AWG Project. No member of the developer community may be denied access or use of any material developed by an AWG. The purpose of the licensing procedure is two fold. First, to provide an owning entity so that material produced by the AWG Project will not technically be entered into the public domain. Second, to provide for a database of users and interested parties to further facilitate information flow. 2.4 Connection With Commodore-Amiga(tm) 2.4.1 Use And Non-Use Of AWG Developed Material It must be understood by all parties concerned that involvement of Commodore- Amiga in the AWG Project or in any specific AWG does not constitute any official endorsement of the work being performed by that group. Nor does it obligate Commodore-Amiga to use or not use any of the work performed by any group or any group member. Commodore-Amiga can, of course, have access to or use any material developed by the AWG Project perpetually and without any financial liability. ------------ So, while the material is not "PD", it can be regarded as "ShareWare", e.g. we will all share in it's benefits. > I'm not saying that this was the intent of the proposal, but I think >it probably made a pass through the attorney's office at some point. I don't >think I could even participate in such a thing without violating other >contractual obligations. > > Thanks, > > Wade. Interesting, and I guess we'll take that as a compliment. The original proposal was drafted by Perry and myself and sent to Commodore for review. The only real changes the reviewers wanted was changing "Commodore Business Machines" to "Commodore-Amiga". So, I suggest you re-read the proposal in it's entirety. I see nothing that would violate any normal contractual obligations a good developer would have. By the way, there is a group of people hashing out the beginnings of an IFF Working Group. Please stay tuned for more information after AmiExpo. -Eric Lavitsky AWG Steering Committee ARPA: eric@topaz.rutgers.edu or eric@ulysses.att.com UUCP: {att,ucbvax}!ulysses!eric or {wherever!}rutgers!topaz!eric SNAIL: 34 Maplehurst Ln, Piscataway, NJ 08854 "To err is human; To really f*ck up requires the root password."