Skip to main content

[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index] [List Home]
Re: [eclipse.org-committers] How to deal with stackoverflow contributions

On Tue, 12 Jun 2018 at 15:30, Mark Struberg <struberg@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
[snip]
Otoh if the source is so trivial that it doesn't even create originary IP (threshold of originarity), then there is no IP on the code at all and you are free to use it. There is a big grey area between those ends.

I don't think it's safe to define a level of triviality here. Were the 9 lines of code in the rangeCheck function that Google copied from Oracle trivial? You the be the judge, they are published here:


Judge Alsup said he could implement them himself. Yet, Oracle was still awarded $150000 in damages for those 9 lines of trivial code that really couldn't have been implemented in another other way. Had another judge that wasn't as technically competent as Alsup presided over the case, the damages could have been far more. We're not talking about hypotheticals here, we're talking about real world cases of copying trivial code resulting in hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages being awarded. So I don't think it's safe to call any code where the provenance of the IP isn't 100% clear, no matter how trivial, safe to copy. This in particular applies to Jakarta EE, where implementations of it are products that generate billions of dollars in revenue, so are particularly vulnerable to IP lawsuits. And, one such implementation is provided by a certain vendor, mentioned above, who has proven that they are a hostile player who are more than happy to take other companies to court over copying trivial code.

It's really not ever safe to copy code from any source that doesn't have clear IP provenance, no matter how trivial.


LieGrue,
strub


> Am 07.06.2018 um 19:38 schrieb Christian Pontesegger <christian.pontesegger@xxxxxx>:
>
> Hi,
>
> I would like to ask how we should deal @ eclipse with code saples taken from stackoverflow. Nowaday it is quite common to find code snippets on stackoverflow and reuse them for own implementations. While this might be common practice, I would like to know how such contributions should be dealt with.
>
> Stackoverflow has a license
> https://stackoverflow.blog/2009/06/25/attribution-required/
>
> that at least requires attribution. Say we would re-use a code snippet like this one:
> https://stackoverflow.com/questions/30031748/how-to-get-image-from-plugin-internal-resources?utm_medium=organic&utm_source=google_rich_qa&utm_campaign=google_rich_qa
>
> What would be the correct way to use it within a commit? Attribution in the source code next to the snippet? Would we need to file a CQ?
>
>
> thanks for your answers
> Christian
>
> _______________________________________________
> eclipse.org-committers mailing list
> eclipse.org-committers@xxxxxxxxxxx
> https://dev.eclipse.org/mailman/listinfo/eclipse.org-committers
>
> IMPORTANT: Membership in this list is generated by processes internal to the Eclipse Foundation.  To be permanently removed from this list, you must contact emo@xxxxxxxxxxx to request removal.

_______________________________________________
eclipse.org-committers mailing list
eclipse.org-committers@xxxxxxxxxxx
https://dev.eclipse.org/mailman/listinfo/eclipse.org-committers

IMPORTANT: Membership in this list is generated by processes internal to the Eclipse Foundation.  To be permanently removed from this list, you must contact emo@xxxxxxxxxxx to request removal.


--
James Roper
Senior Developer, Office of the CTO

Lightbend – Build reactive apps!
Twitter: @jroper


Back to the top