Re: [boost] Copyright-less licence references

Subject: Re: [boost] Copyright-less licence references
From: Peter Dimov (lists_at_[hidden])
Date: 2015-09-15 17:21:30

Gennadiy Rozental wrote:
> Can you tell me why you yourself do not follow this advice? I do not see 
> you updating copyright statements.

I do update them from time to time. :-)

> Let's take any file with your copyright (do not take this personally - it 
> is just an example). For example interlocked.hpp:
>
> You have Copyright 2005 Peter Dimov.
>
> This supposedly says that you started to work on this file in 2005 (which 
> is indeed true) and you hold the copyright on content of this file ever 
> since, right?
>
> Few questions:
>
> 1. Why is it not "Copyright 2005-2015 Peter Dimov."
> 2. I see quite a lot of changes made since 2005. Does your disclaimer 
> automatically make you hold a copyright to these lines since 2005 even 
> though changes were made let's say 2012?

I automatically hold the copyright for everything I author, regardless of 
whether I include a proper copyright assignment at the top, but it depends 
on the jurisdiction and having the lines at the top is considered a good 
practice. That's my opinion though and I'm not a lawyer.

> 3. I see few other people made significant changes to this file. Why don't 
> we have a Copyright disclaimers for all of them?

It's up to those people to add a line if they so decide. Copyright only 
covers expressions of creativity. If someone makes changes to a file but 
doesn't feel that these changes are original enough, he can decide to not 
claim copyright. Sometimes people err on the side of not claiming copyright 
out of modesty. Sometimes other people claim copyright for changes that 
deserve none.

> > in 2017, but you can't remove the existing lines.
>
> Why?

Well you obviously can do whatever you like, it's just not considered good 
practice.

> 1. Why I can't change my own copyright to this?

You can in principle assign your copyright to some other person or a legal 
entity, in which case, you could legitimately go and change everything to 
match, but why would you do that?

> 2. Why I can't change Raffi's copyright to this if he formally agrees to 
> this?

You could, but why?

> 3. Let's say someone had a copyright line introduced few years ago. And I 
> removed lined which were authored by that person. Do I need to keep 
> copyright?

Not in principle, but this is a gray area because one might argue that 
editions made later have been influenced by the creative ideas embodied in 
that person's lines and so constituting a derived work.