[TYPO3-50-general] TYPO3 5.0 license

[Steffen Müller]

Hi.

On 12.02.2007 15:51 Thomas Hempel wrote:
> 
> I mean wouldn't it make sense to overwrite the copyright of TYPO3 5.0 to
> the Association? That would have some essential advantages:
> 
> 1. There is only one copyright holder (The Association) and not a few
> people for each file.
> 

How should this be possible?
I'm not familiar with foreign (non-german) copyright laws and I am not a
german lawyer. So just my 2 cents:
In germany, the author is always the copyright (exploitation right)
holder. The term "author" means individual person(s) and not some legal
person. Assigning authorship is IMHO not possible. He can grant rights
to use his work (we do so, using the GPL), but not generally assign
authorship to an Assoc.
Indeed, one might abandon his exploitation right, which is IMHO not a
good option. If the Assoc. turns to get evil (e.g. kick off GPL from
TYPO3), chances are few to revoke your abandonment. (Don't get me wrong,
I do NOT reckon that the Assoc will get evil). Choosing the GPL instead
will prohibit evil misuse.

> 2. The Association has all rights on the code and can sell a special
> licensed version if needed. In some projects it might be impossible to
> use a GPL software. So the Association can sell a commercial TYPO3 of an
> particular version.
> 

What reason makes it impossible to use GPL software?
I do not see the benefit.

-- 
cheers,
Steffen