Final point to the question of assignment as regards French IP laws - Mailing list pgadmin-hackers

Le Mardi 4 Novembre 2003 00:08, Vadim Zeitlin a écrit :
> Please, please, please let's make a pause in this discussion, it is
> spinning out of control. I actually had to do some work today and after
> getting back home after a few hours (no time to work any more with all this
> stuff!) I see ~80 new messages on this subject in my mailbox and the new
> ones keep coming in faster than I can read, let alone reply to, the old
> ones.

Dear Vadim,

Please consider these discussions over. You have me behind this too.

Can we consider this as a cancellation of the assignment transferring all
wxWindows property rights, including moral rights, to a legal US based
organisation?

Sorry if I told you that a contract needed two signatures. This is not the
real problem. The problem is "Transfer of ownership" from a bunch of people
to a single legal American organisation. And French moral rights in IP laws.

Remember, wxWindows framework is bound to French IP laws because
the wxWindows story mostly started in France.

In France, transfering the moral right attached to IP is a case of invalidity
of any contract with an individual. Also, in France every contributor is
considered as an author. A bunch of people own rights.

Read
http://www.avocats-publishing.com/article.php3?id_article=6

"Dans les pays de droit d'auteur comme la France, l'auteur personne physique
demeure toujours titulaire initial de ses droits, le droit d'auteur étant
fondé sur la problématique des intérêts de l'auteur créateur. Il s'agit d'une
logique personnaliste et ce soutien à la création rend inaliénable les droits
liés à la personnalité (droits moraux), l'auteur ne pouvant céder que les
droits d'exploitation (droits patrimoniaux). Le copyright est d'inspiration
utilitariste. Il prend en compte l'intérêt de tous. L'auteur cède la totalité
de ses droits sur son oeuvre et le titulaire des droits, généralement
l'investisseur responsable de la diffusion, est souvent une personne morale.
Final point."

I can translate only the beginning: "In the county of authors like France, the
physical individual author remains by law the owner of his rights [...] The
moral rights cannot be sold.".

Of course, I am prepared to discuss all this in a few weeks, after the dust
comes down and I recover my sleep. Also, please consider I am only an amateur
law expert. You need to ask a real professional like the one you contacted
before.

The legal problem of transfering rights is even deeper in France. In case of
problem in an "Association loi 1901", the President is responsible on his own
assets, not the assets of the Association. If you get suited for 10 millions
euros, the President has to pay them. You call this protection? If the
assignment contract is illegal, the wxWindows is an empty nutshell and you
are not protected in France.

Of course, nothing happens if the wxWindows framework remains the joint
ownership of a bunch of people living around the world.

As I wrote this morning, in Europe, our machines and plants cannot be bombed
from the sky, because our rigts are deeply burried in the ground. This is the
spirit of Free Software.

If you wish to submit a new "inter-gallactical-transfer" contract, go on. I
think any such contract will be illegal because you will never backed up by
100% of contributors and people, who may also change their mind in future
times because the French law permits it. Even in case of transfer to the FSF.
You cannot change people from changing their mind over time.

I consider this problem over and wish to return to normal life. Do you confirm
the cancelation of the transfer contract?

I admit I knew this impossibility from the beginning, as announced publicly a
few days ago. For a French lawyer, this is like "English one, Chapter one,
Lesson one". Everyone knows it in France.

On the converse the last days helped understanding the links of the project
with Borland and its future directions.

Let's stay friends. One cannot always win.

With kindest regards,
Jean-Michel Pouré