[llvm-dev] RFC #2: Improving license & patent issues in the LLVM community

[Joerg Sonnenberger via llvm-dev]

On Wed, Nov 02, 2016 at 04:01:34PM -0700, Chris Lattner wrote:
> > Hi Chris,
> > let me go back to this with some of the thoughts from the last Berlin
> > Social.
> 
> Thanks!  FWIW, if you or anyone else is going to be at the LLVM Dev
> Meeting and are interested in relicensing, then please come to the LLVM
> Foundation BoF.  I’ll give an update there, and it’s a great place for
> general questions and discussion.

Wrong continent for me.

> > (2) LLVM contributors grant permissions to use their patents as far as
> > necessary for their contributions. The desirability of this is
> > unquestionable either.
> 
> I’m not sure what you mean by "unquestionable either”.  Do you mean "unquestionable good”?

This is what we are trying to do already and something we want to keep
doing.

[snip of parts covered already by David]

> > For non-natural legal entities as contributors, I still maintain my
> > position that at least under German law a proper legal agreement is
> > necessary to ensure that any obligations are actually enforceable.
> 
> I’m not sure what you’re suggesting here.

We still need to keep track of what legal entity is doing the
contribution. The easiest case is a lone programmer -- let him/her say so
once and the problem is solved until he/she gets employed and changes
his/her status.

For corporate entries as contributor it is somewhat more involved. I
don't know what form of authorisation lawyers on both sides are happy
with. It can be as simple as a company like Google or Apple signing
paper work once that they agree to the patent use and that all
contributions from a @google.com or @apple.com address are fine. They
might want to keep track of permitted individuals, I don't know.

Assuming the Github moves happens, it could be tight to the github
IDs. I know some projects are already using automated checks for pull
requests for proof of origin. It can be a bit work for people with
multiple github accounts, but that's a different issue.

Joerg