Sorry, but this is all too complicated. You're not a lawyer, but you let software development be controlled by lawyers? It leads to stalemate.
Stefan On Thu, Jun 18, 2015 at 11:21 AM, Rob Vesse <rve...@dotnetrdf.org> wrote: > Answers inline, please be aware IANAL so these answers are no substitute > for getting advice from a real lawyer > > On 17/06/2015 17:12, "封仲淹(纪君祥)" <zhongyan.f...@alibaba-inc.com> wrote: > > >Hi > > > > > > > >May I ask several question about donating projects to Apache? > > > >Any help are appreciated. Thanks in advance. > > > >As we all know, the Apache is the most important open source community, > >there are so many great projects such as Tomcat, Hadoop, Hbase, Zookeeper > >etc. It is proud of joining these great projects. > > > >We also want to donate some of our good open source projects to ASF, but > >we > >are a litter worry about the legal issue. I don’t know what’s the impact > >of intelligent Properties after donation, Could anyone give me some > >guideline or several documents ? Thanks > > Firstly please note that the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) does not > accept arbitrary donations, all incoming projects need to be go through > the Incubation Process: > > http://incubator.apache.org/incubation/Process_Description.html > > The first stage of which is starting a discussion on the > general@incubator.apache.org list to discuss your proposed donations. > > A key criteria that the Incubator uses is that there must be a willingness > to build a open community around a project. If your intent is merely to > open source a project or leverage the Apache brand with your company > retaining control then your project is unlikely to be accepted by the ASF > and you may be better simply posting it on GitHub and having the > discussion with the Incubator Community will help you figure out what the > best path is for your projects. > > > > > > > > >(1) Trademark > > > >Will the project trademark belong to ASF or still be our company’s after > >donation? Can we still use the old project trademark. > > Trademarks would be transferred to ASF as part of the donation and become > ASF trademarks, your company can use Apache trademarks in certain ways per > the ASF trademarks policy: > > http://www.apache.org/foundation/marks/faq/ > > If you are currently marketing these products commercially then this would > likely require some changes to how you market and brand your products. > > > > > > > > > > >(2) Patent > > > >We have own several patent on these open source projects, if we donate > >these > >project, what’s the patent going on. Does we give up all patent claim? > > No you don't give up the claims BUT per Clause 3. Grant of Patent License > in the Apache License 2.0 contributors grant a license to all downstream > users of the project to any applicable patents: > > http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0#patent > > > > > > > > >(3) Agreement > > > >Which agreements should we sign? Right now, we need sign > ><http://www.apache.org/licenses/cla-corporate.txt> Corporate CLA and > ><http://www.apache.org/licenses/software-grant.txt> Software Grant > >Agreement > >(SGA). Is there any other agreement should we sign? > > To donate a project then you would have to sign the SGA > > The Corporate CLA is an optional document typically used when you employ > people who contribute to Apache projects and your companies IP policies > would usually assign IP in any work employees do to the company > > > > > > > > > > >(4) Who own the source code? > > > >Does the code belong to ASF or still be our company? > > > > > > The ASF owns the copyright for the collective work > > Individual contributors retain copyright to their individual contributions > (note that contributions are not necessarily just code), through Clause 2 > Grant of Copyright License of the Apache License 2.0 the contributors > grant a copyright license to all downstream users of the code: > > http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0#copyright > > Hope this helps, > > Rob > > > > > > > > > > > > >Thanks in advance. > > > >Longda > > > > > > > > > > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: general-unsubscr...@incubator.apache.org > For additional commands, e-mail: general-h...@incubator.apache.org > >
