LiveCode Community - anyone up for maintaining the community edition?

[Mark Waddingham]

On 2021-09-08 22:54, Paul McClernan via use-livecode wrote:
> I've already fixed a bug that I reported back in April in my fork(s) 
> and
> added a link to my fix to that bugzilla report.
> 
> https://github.com/PaulMcClernan/LiveCodeCommunity-IDE-DontPanicEdition

At this point in any changed relationship, it’s necessary to set out the 
new terms, as amicably as possible. Each side needs to clearly 
understand where they can and cannot go now. As our move away from 
supporting Open Source LiveCode is still very new, it’s likely the 
ramifications are not as yet understood.

I have to ask you (and anyone involved in that project, or any other 
forks) politely not to submit any changes back to bugzilla or anywhere 
else associated with LiveCode Ltd. as it creates a business risk for us.

We (LiveCode Ltd.) cannot take any code changes you make to your 
project's version of the LiveCode source-code and use them in our 
commercial code as (by default) it will be GPLv3 licensed, and the 
copyright of that will be held by the person who authored the changes; 
just as you cannot change the license from GPLv3 nor copyright 
attribution (LiveCode Ltd.) - whether explicit or implicit - of any 
existing line of code in your project's fork of the LiveCode 
repositories, nor take any changes which appear from now onwards in any 
commercial edition to incorporate into your project.

When we were running the open source project, we had in place a 
Contributor's License Agreement which meant that the copyright of any 
code authored by a contributor in any patch submitted to LiveCode Ltd 
was assigned to us. However, this only extended to contributions 
submitted through GitHub, where there was an appropriate immutable 
record of such submissions and it was universally clear what changes 
were being made. For obvious reasons, this no longer exists.

More generally, I must also ask you not to use the LiveCode mailing 
list, bug reporting system or LiveCode forums for discussions 
surrounding your fork - particularly related to plans, ideas, 
developments and changes which are being or have been made.

At no point do I want us to be the target of any sort of public ill-will 
or indeed lawsuit due to assertions of copyright theft, or appropriation 
of other people's ideas that were not clearly (whether implicitly or 
explicitly) proffered to us directly.

The only way to ensure that is for any forks (yours included) to stand 
completely independently and by themselves - with their own 
communication forums, distinctive product name and distinct branding so 
there can be no risk of confusion nor appropriation of anything from 
either side.

I should point out that recent events are actually nothing to do with my 
above words - I would have said the same to any fork maintainer who 
actively sought to advertise their fork within the existing LiveCode 
community - as defined by LiveCode's mailing lists, forums, bug 
reporting system, or any other forum owned and run by LiveCode Ltd. for 
the purposes of public interaction - or posted links to code changes 
from that project or on any such forum/system. Indeed, ensuring complete 
independence really is standard practice when forks are made of open 
source projects - OpenOffice and LibreOffice spring to mind.

We fully respect the legacy we have created in terms of the GPLv3 
source-code, copyrighted to LiveCode Ltd., which is forever preserved in 
the archived GitHub repositories in the LiveCode GitHub account which 
carry the LiveCode name. We have no issue with any or all forks or 
open-source GPLv3-based projects which might arise from that legacy.

All we ask is that any such project ensures that it respects LiveCode 
Ltd.'s intellectual property as embodied within that (through its GPLv3 
licensed, copyrighted source-code) and also respects LiveCode Ltd.'s 
right to assert itself as the only entitled user of the LiveCode name, 
trademarks and brand identity.

With all that said, I wish you, and anyone who joins you, well with your 
endeavour.

Have fun!

Warmest Regards,

Mark.

-- 
Mark Waddingham ~ mark at livecode.com ~ http://www.livecode.com/
LiveCode: Everyone can create apps