Re: [Savannah-hackers-public] legal entities

[Alex Fernandez]

Hi Karl,

On Tue, Mar 30, 2010 at 11:33 PM, Karl Berry <address@hidden> wrote:
> Re the "legal entity" question that was raised on
> http://savannah.gnu.org/task/?10297.

On this task the developer did not use the "generic" project name, but
the names of two departments inside institutions.

> According to Brett's reply to Sylvain's question on address@hidden
> (in respond to Eric Raymond's submission), it is ok to use the "generic"
> project name in copyright lines, even when the projects do not have any
> legal status.

The two departments were not legal entities _or_ project names. They
did not contribute to project development except but funding the main
developer. I will tell this developer that he can use the project name
in copyright statements, but I doubt that is his intent.

> Therefore I don't think we should raise an objection when submissions do
> this.  This would even be true for GNU projects.

Just to clarify (I'm a bit thicker than usual today): are you saying
random entities (informal groups as well as departments) are OK in
copyright statements? I'm perfectly fine with that, but then I don't
know where to draw the line: are aliases (such as nicknames -- a
special form of "informal groups") still invalid or not?

Alex.