Open Source Licensing: Software Freedom and Intellectual Property Law

Assigning Ownership

This book is about licensing, but there is an alternative to licensing that is occasionally employed by open source projects to ensure that the projects themselves have the right to license contributions. Authors are encouraged to assign their entire ownership interest in open source software (and occasionally the ownership interest in any patents embodied in that software) directly to the project. This assignment is an effective way to ensure that the project itself has the authority to license the software.

You will recall that the owner of intellectual property may dispose of it as if it were real or personal property, including by sale or gift. Once transferred to a new owner, it is the new owner who has the exclusive ...