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Date: Wed, 03 Sep 1997 05:47:26 -0400
From: Joel Peterson <jpetersn@wsj.dowjones.com>
Organization: Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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Subject: Re: forwarded message from Richard M. Stallman
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Martin Buchholz wrote:
> Although I feel that rms is being unreasonable about this, I recommend
> everyone should do FSF copyright assignments if possible.  I cannot
> currently, due to my employment at Sun.  Doug, you might find it
> difficult for an IBM lawyer to sign anything as well, and that may be
> required to satisfy rms.
> 
> No lawyer ever got fired for saying `No, don't do that; we might get sued'.

The lawyers here at Dow Jones weren't that difficult when I requested
permission to give code away.  They did request a couple of changes in
the language to emphasize that Dow Jones was not liable in any way, but
other than that it went very smoothly (once my manager got around to
actually requesting it :-).  Basically, they were very understanding of
FSF's requirements and understood that Dow Jones wasn't giving away
anything of proprietary value (and would actually benefit from XEmacs
improving).  You do need to do your research and go in with several good
reasons why the code should be given away (even if they're white lies).

-- 
Joel Peterson
Senior Programmer/Analyst
Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

