Re: SUO: Bob's Questions on copyright
Bob and Jim,
This discussion reminds me of an actual component of SUMO, namely
the work on verbs by Beth Levin. As I recall, Beth had been concerned
about releasing the copyright on the material in her book. Did the
people who put some of that material into SUMO get permission from her?
And by the way, this is just one more reason for keeping SUMO modular.
Different components have come from different sources with different
kinds of copyright restrictions. Some of them are from ancient history,
and others come from recent publications. If each module was clearly
documented with its source(s), that would make it possible for any
developer to check any possible IP problems that might result from
using that module.
John Sowa
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> Bob Spillers: If I interpret your note correctly the SUMO is not public
> domain.
>
> J. Schoening: Yes, SUMO, IFF and all other standards developed by all other
> SDOs are not 'public domain.' They are copyrighted.
>
> Bob Spillers: This means it is not freely usable by anyone for any reason.
>
> J. Schoening: You couldn't change it and release it as your own standard, or
> you couldn't sell copies. However, IEEE has given us permission to post the
> document (in draft and final) on the web for free downloading by anyone.
> Anyone can use this standard for any product, research, or just about any
> other purpose that I can think of, as they can with other IEEE standards.
> Can you think of an example of a use that would be restricted?
>
> Bob Spillers: NOTE: Having had some experience with these issues at a very
> large
> corporation with more patents than any other company, unless you have
> well drafted signed IP releases from ALL contributors the copyright
> means very little.
>
> J. Schoening: Good point. If someone contributes their own Intellectual
> Property (IP) to the SUO WG, that is considered 'Work for Hire' and IEEE
> gains the right to change and distribute it. The risk is that someone
> brings in an outsider's IP without their written permission. It is my job
> to make sure this doesn't happen and I have informed both the SUMO and IFF
> teams they must guard against this.