[Kde-games-devel] Copyright notices

[Alex Merry]

On Tuesday 10 February 2009 15:51:36 Matthew Woehlke wrote:
> > Then why is KDevelop "(c) 1999-2009, The KDevelop developers"?
>
> First off, if it uses only (c) (and not "©" or "Copyright" - only one
> should be used AFAIK) it's wrong.

Please only use the full word "copyright", and not "(c)" or "©".  "Copyright" 
is an internationally-recognised word, and the other markings are pointless.  
"(c)", in particular, is meaningless.

Also, copyright listings at the tops of files need to list the copyright 
holders.  Most of the time in KDE, that is the individual coders.  The only 
exception is where work is done contracted for a legal entity (such as Nokia 
employees writing code for Qt) or is explitly transferred to a legal entity 
(such as people signing copyright for work on particular projects across to 
FSF, for example).

"The KDE Team" or "The KDEGames Team" cannot hold copyrights, since they are 
not legal entities.

What you put in about boxes is less important, since the copyright is 
generally not that important unless you are copying/relicensing source code, 
in which case you should look at the copyright headers for the files.

Also, note that you hold the copyright on the code you write (unless you 
transfer it or write the code under contract) regardless of whether or not you 
put the copyright header in the file.  The headers are informative, so that 
people know (a) when the copyright expires and (b) who to contact about 
relicensing the code.

Alex


-- 
Why have I got six monitors?  Because I haven't got room for eight.
  -- Terry Pratchett

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