Rebecca Giblin on chokepoint capitalism [LWN.net]

Rebecca Giblin on chokepoint capitalism

Posted Mar 30, 2023 12:28 UTC (Thu) by paulj (subscriber, #341)
In reply to: Rebecca Giblin on chokepoint capitalism by Wol
Parent article: Rebecca Giblin on chokepoint capitalism

The USC code NYKevin referred to is titled "Termination of transfers and licenses granted by the author", and starts with:

"(a) Conditions for Termination.—In the case of any work other than a work made for hire, the exclusive or nonexclusive grant of a transfer or license of copyright or of any right under a copyright, executed by the author on or after January 1, 1978, otherwise than by will, is subject to termination under the following conditions:

..."

Seems like licenses are included.

Rebecca Giblin on chokepoint capitalism

Posted Mar 31, 2023 1:01 UTC (Fri) by NYKevin (subscriber, #129325) [Link]

Indeed, not only does it include licenses in general, it includes licenses that explicitly forbid such termination:

> (5)Termination of the grant may be effected notwithstanding any agreement to the contrary, including an agreement to make a will or to make any future grant.

So you can't fix this by adding a clause to a future version of the GPL. You just have to accept the fact that people can take their copyright back. However, for larger projects, you can probably argue that it's a "joint work" and requires a majority, as other commenters have noted.