http://www.osdev.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=14149
Original Message:
In regard to:Kevin McGuire wrote:Also, if I remember correctly that might never hold up in a court for the reason being that to transfer your copyright to someone else you have to use a signed document. I think this document also has to have a certain legal structure to make it valid also.
You also might be trying to put a leg cast on a simple cut and scape. A better way (if possible) might be to enter the contributor into a agreement to allow you to have certain rights to their submissions having the effects of: still leaving them as copyright holders, allowing you exclusive usage of their contribution, and allowing your self to enter into some terms that force you to give them attribution when their work is used inside your project.
You could also define a certain percentage of profit to be returned to the contributors if you for instance went commercial and made a profit. As in saying that five percent of the profit would be evenly distributed to the contributors - but for that to be written in a legally sound manner would require a professional lawyer, I would imagine.
Also profit is (I think should be) defined by the excess money (after paying the costs), which should be after paying your self since you have to eat and sleep somewhere. It has to be treated very seriously since if you have bad intentions you will most likely end up on the inside of a prison cell somewhere. So not really a recommended way to have your project setup but it does seem like a interesting way to do it if you really wanted to be serious about the whole idea.
If you want to argue the idea then argue it with out the numbers inserted. It makes more sense since I doubt there is some international law that says this has to be five percent. I also apologize for inserting the numbers as I should have clarified my intentions better by substituting with a variable.mathematician wrote:Five percent of the profits go to (say) 100 contributors, and the other 95% goes to number one? I don't think so. If you took your masterpiece along to a commercial software house you could expect (and get) twenty percent on the sale price.Kevin McGuire wrote: You could also define a certain percentage of profit to be returned to the contributors if you for instance went commercial and made a profit. As in saying that five percent of the profit would be evenly distributed to the contributors - but for that to be written in a legally sound manner would require a professional lawyer, I would imagine.
The contributor should make a judgment as to if their contribution would hold true in ((Z*P*T)>((X/Y)*P*T) where T is a unit time, and P is the profit per unit of time.NoBody wrote: X percent of the profits go to (say) Y contributors, and the other (1.0-X) goes to number one? I don't think so. If you took your work along to a commercial software house you could expect (and get) Z percent on the sale price.
That is how I see your argument. Not saying you were wrong at all. Just saying I thought you might have directed that at me since you did quote what I said. So I decided to try and keep this post short and clarify that I simply tried to establish a abstract idea sort of speak. I have a LOT of ideas.
