Where is FreeBSD going?

[M. Warner Losh]

In message: <9td69t98g4.69t at mail.comcast.net>
            underway at comcast.net (Gary W. Swearingen) writes:
: "M. Warner Losh" <imp at bsdimp.com> writes:
: 
: > Ryan Sommers <ryans at gamersimpact.com> writes:
: > : Something like this might also jeopardize the
: > : project's "not for profit" status.
: >
: > The project is not a legally incorporated entity at this time, and
: > never has been in the past.
: 
: And yet the "Legal" page carries a claim of copyright for "The FreeBSD
: Project" 

It is a psudonymous work by The FreeBSD Project.

: and the "Copyright" page has that plus a similar claim for
: "FreeBSD, Inc."  (For 2004, even.) 

That should be changed.

: I've not seen a US statute about
: false copyright claims, but I think it would be less risky to say "all
: intellectual property is owned by its owners", in the manner of some
: trademark statements.

No, the above is perfectly legal under US and International Copyright
law.

: The "Legal" page could tell about using CVS to
: determine who owns what so they can be tracked down and asked if the
: copyright page is correct about what license they've got it under.  :)

That's likely overkill, but might not be a bad idea.

: Whether the project is "for profit" depends upon the definition, if
: the project is claiming copyright ownership, because gains of
: intellectual property is considered (by US copyright law, at least) to
: be a financial gain.  But lots of organizations, formal and informal,
: have financial gains without problems with being considered "for
: profit", so if someone sees "for profit" problems, they should be
: specific about what the problems might be.

For profit or not is irrelvant, given that there's no legally
incorporated entity for the project.

Warner