Before contributing to RSC, please assign the copyright for your work to the project. The Free Software Foundation also does this with contributions to their projects (e.g. GNU), and they explain why here.
Here are some situations in which you do not own the copyright to your software:
- You are an employee who signed an agreement which assigns the copyright for software that you develop to your employer. Note that this may extend to software that you developed on your own time, even if it is unrelated to your employer's line of business.
- You are a contractor who developed the software as a "work for hire" under an agreement that assigns the copyright to whoever paid you for the software.
- You got the software from somewhere else, such as another open-source project or an online article. If you didn't write it yourself, you don't own the copyright (unless it was assigned to you, in the same manner as requested by this agreement).
If you do not own the copyright, you need to get a waiver from the owner. Please email [email protected] and explain what software you plan to contribute and who owns the copyright.
You must own the copyright to the software (or have developed it yourself, if you have also obtained a waiver from the copyright owner) before signing this agreement.
After signing the form, please scan it and email it to [email protected].