Subject: Re: [boost] Copyright-less licence references
From: Peter Dimov (lists_at_[hidden])
Date: 2015-09-15 18:35:00
Andrey Semashev wrote:
> I think Peter made a very good point that these "Boost.Test contributors"
> has to be a legal entity, ...
No, I'm not saying that. It's reasonable to interpret "Boost.Test
contributors" as a shorthand for a list of specific names who don't need to
constitute a legal entity. It's basically a 'pointer' to the actual list of
contributors that is presumably available on demand.
> This reminds me. Recently I updated README.md in a few libraries I work on
> to include a notice that patch contributors implicitly agree to release
> their modifications under BSL [1][2][3]. Should these notes be added to
> all libraries or even on the main website or am I being paranoid?
I tend towards "paranoid", but this is the sort of question which lawyers
find "fascinating" in the "I'd be very interested to see that tested in
court" way. :-) That's because this notice protects against the hypothetical
situation in which someone contributes a patch and then later sues us for
illegal distribution, pretending not to have known that his changes would
have been distributed under the terms of the BSL. I consider this position
somewhat unlikely to prevail. But again, I'm no lawyer. Lawyers like
disclaimers.