Contributed code, etc. (was [Maxima] Teaching differential equations with Maxima)

--- Stavros Macrakis <stavros.macrakis@verizon.net> wrote:
> 
> I agree entirely.  I intended that case to be covered by "code which
> belongs to you".  I didn't want the language to get too legalistic.
> Just because someone donated rights to code to Macsyma Inc. does not
> mean that they lost their own rights to it.  Of course, if they were
> paid for it by Macsyma Inc., or even if they were just employees of
> Macsyma Inc. at the time (even if the code was not part of their
> official work), that's a different story.

OK.  Sound's like we are on the same page.
 
> That said, I do not think we need to be paranoid about all this.  If
> we or the copyright holder discovers a piece of "contaminated" code
> which has slipped into a Share file *by mistake*, we can remove it.  
> The first step in any legal action would be a formal letter from the 
> copyright holder demanding that we remove the offending code, which
we 
> would of course do immediately.  As Jim points out, we don't have the

> legal resources to *fight* a legal action, but we would not fight, 
> just remove the file.

Right.  

> That doesn't mean we shouldn't be careful, and it *certainly* doesn't
> mean that we should play dumb if we are suspicious about the origins
> of some code, but let's not be paralyzed by paranoia....

True.  OK, my recommendation is send it and let's see what we get. 
This could be interesting.  Should we try sci.math.symbolic too or do
you think your list would cover any interested parties there?

CY

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