[MacPorts] #9420: Carbon XEmacs is infringing various copyrights

[MacPorts]

#9420: Carbon XEmacs is infringing various copyrights
---------------------------------+------------------------------------------
  Reporter:  stephen at xemacs.org  |       Owner:  macports-tickets at lists.macosforge.org
      Type:  defect              |      Status:  new                                  
  Priority:  High                |   Milestone:  Port Bugs                            
 Component:  ports               |     Version:                                       
Resolution:                      |    Keywords:  carbon                               
      Port:  xemacs              |  
---------------------------------+------------------------------------------
Changes (by devans at macports.org):

  * keywords:  => carbon
  * port:  => xemacs


Old description:

> I wish to bring to your attention the fact that Andrew Choi has removed
> the GPL permissions notice and the copyright notices of the original
> authors from the file src/carbon-console.c.  A comment by Choi says that
> "All functions in this file are taken from console-qt.cpp", so this is
> clearly in violation of the terms of the GPL.  Although the authors have
> so far declined to take action, they have not yet granted Choi any
> license other than the GPL.  Choi has been notified of the problem and
> has twice refused to put the notices in the file.
>
> I ask that you restore the notice to the file in your distribution,
> either by patch or in a separate README.  The GPL boilerplate can be
> copied from any of the other source files, or simply referred to briefly.
> The deleted copyright notice is
>
>    Copyright (C) 1996 Ben Wing.
>
> Note that the following authorship is given on console-qt.cpp.
>
>    Ben Wing: January 1996, for 19.14.
>    Sam Magnuson: April 2002, for 21.5 (Qt version)
>
> This probably means that Sam Magnuson, who was a TrollTech employee, has
> copyright in that file, and therefore in src/console-carbon.c.  We have
> not yet contacted Magnuson or TrollTech to determine their legal interest
> or attitude toward Choi's deliberate infringement.
>
> Upon request, I will provide a copy of console-qt.cpp, or you can check
> out the DEV_QT branch of XEmacs from XEmacs CVS.
>
> I would also like to provide the following context.
>
> It is my belief as a non-lawyer with substantial interest in intellectual
> property law as it applies to open source that a substantial majority of
> the Carbon XEmacs port by Choi is derivative of code that he copied from
> other parts of the XEmacs sources.  That is not a threat, or anything
> like it; I simply want to bring it to your attention that Choi's code
> uses the "object-oriented" macros developed by Ben Wing (and possibly
> others) throughout, and therefore is arguably derivative.  None of the
> files Choi has added bear the copyright notices or GPL permissions
> notices that are required if my interpretation is correct.
>
> Please do not consider this a "demand" or a "threat".  At present the
> XEmacs Review Board (the project's governing body, a self-selected cabal
> of core developers; nonetheless, membership is fairly open and we
> regularly add new members) trying to find a way to satisfy both our
> obligations to our copyright holders who have licensed their code to us
> under the GPL, and Choi's desire to put no restrictions whatsoever on his
> code.   Although we are all sympathetic in greater or lesser degree to
> Choi's opposition to copyleft licenses, the largest block of our
> copyright is held by the Free Software Foundation.  Thus we have to be
> very careful to dot i's and cross t's---that is why we have not
> incorporated Choi's code into the mainline of XEmacs yet.
>
> We have found no way to legally include his code "as is" (ie, without
> restoring the GPL to the code we add to XEmacs), but he has publicly and
> privately bashed us for following the law as we understand it, even
> though we added notices that his code is public domain, and provided
> verbatim copies of his patches under his permissions notices.  So we are
> currently at an impasse.
>
> The main copyright holder in the code that Choi has clearly copied is Ben
> Wing.  Ben is currently reserving judgment.  His stated desire is to
> maximize distribution of both his code and Choi's code, as long as his
> role in creating the code is acknowledged.  It is my belief that
> downstream distributors of Choi's code are at no risk of legal action by
> XEmacs, and because Ben holds the known relevant copyrights the FSF
> (which might be more aggressive) has no standing.

New description:

 I wish to bring to your attention the fact that Andrew Choi has removed
 the GPL permissions notice and the copyright notices of the original
 authors from the file src/carbon-console.c.  A comment by Choi says that
 "All functions in this file are taken from console-qt.cpp", so this is
 clearly in violation of the terms of the GPL.  Although the authors have
 so far declined to take action, they have not yet granted Choi any license
 other than the GPL.  Choi has been notified of the problem and has twice
 refused to put the notices in the file.

 I ask that you restore the notice to the file in your distribution, either
 by patch or in a separate README.  The GPL boilerplate can be copied from
 any of the other source files, or simply referred to briefly.  The deleted
 copyright notice is

    Copyright (C) 1996 Ben Wing.

 Note that the following authorship is given on console-qt.cpp.

    Ben Wing: January 1996, for 19.14.
    Sam Magnuson: April 2002, for 21.5 (Qt version)

 This probably means that Sam Magnuson, who was a TrollTech employee, has
 copyright in that file, and therefore in src/console-carbon.c.  We have
 not yet contacted Magnuson or TrollTech to determine their legal interest
 or attitude toward Choi's deliberate infringement.

 Upon request, I will provide a copy of console-qt.cpp, or you can check
 out the DEV_QT branch of XEmacs from XEmacs CVS.

 I would also like to provide the following context.

 It is my belief as a non-lawyer with substantial interest in intellectual
 property law as it applies to open source that a substantial majority of
 the Carbon XEmacs port by Choi is derivative of code that he copied from
 other parts of the XEmacs sources.  That is not a threat, or anything like
 it; I simply want to bring it to your attention that Choi's code uses the
 "object-oriented" macros developed by Ben Wing (and possibly others)
 throughout, and therefore is arguably derivative.  None of the files Choi
 has added bear the copyright notices or GPL permissions notices that are
 required if my interpretation is correct.

 Please do not consider this a "demand" or a "threat".  At present the
 XEmacs Review Board (the project's governing body, a self-selected cabal
 of core developers; nonetheless, membership is fairly open and we
 regularly add new members) trying to find a way to satisfy both our
 obligations to our copyright holders who have licensed their code to us
 under the GPL, and Choi's desire to put no restrictions whatsoever on his
 code.   Although we are all sympathetic in greater or lesser degree to
 Choi's opposition to copyleft licenses, the largest block of our copyright
 is held by the Free Software Foundation.  Thus we have to be very careful
 to dot i's and cross t's---that is why we have not incorporated Choi's
 code into the mainline of XEmacs yet.

 We have found no way to legally include his code "as is" (ie, without
 restoring the GPL to the code we add to XEmacs), but he has publicly and
 privately bashed us for following the law as we understand it, even though
 we added notices that his code is public domain, and provided verbatim
 copies of his patches under his permissions notices.  So we are currently
 at an impasse.

 The main copyright holder in the code that Choi has clearly copied is Ben
 Wing.  Ben is currently reserving judgment.  His stated desire is to
 maximize distribution of both his code and Choi's code, as long as his
 role in creating the code is acknowledged.  It is my belief that
 downstream distributors of Choi's code are at no risk of legal action by
 XEmacs, and because Ben holds the known relevant copyrights the FSF (which
 might be more aggressive) has no standing.

--

Comment:

 I think this is no longer an issue as the carbon variant (and thus the
 offending code) has been removed from xemacs. Port description clearly
 indicates that GPL applies. Can this be closed?

-- 
Ticket URL: <http://trac.macports.org/ticket/9420#comment:4>
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