by Professor Eben Moglen, Columbia University Law School [Explanatory note added in Jan 2013: this point applies to the packages that are FSF-copyrighted. When the developers of a program make it a GNU package, they can decide either to give the copyright to the FSF so it can enforce the GPL for the package, or else to keep the copyright as well as the responsibility for enforcing the GPL. If they make it an FSF-copyrighted package, then the FSF asks for copyright assignments for further contributions, and this page explains why. ] Under US copyright law, which is the law under which most free software programs have historically been first published, there are very substantial procedural advantages to registration of copyright. And despite the broad right of distribution conveyed by the GPL, enforcement of copyright is generally not possible for distributors: only the copyright holder or someone having assignment of the copyright can enforce the license. If there are multiple authors of a copyrighted work, successful enforcement depends on having the cooperation of all authors. In order to make sure that all of our copyrights can meet the recordkeeping and other requirements of registration, and in order to be able to enforce the GPL most effectively, FSF requires that each author of code incorporated in FSF projects provide a copyright assignment, and, where appropriate, a disclaimer of any work-for-hire ownership claims by the programmer's employer. That way we can be sure that all the code in FSF projects is free code, whose freedom we can most effectively protect, and therefore on which other developers can completely rely.
Why the FSF gets copyright assignments from contributors. by Professor Eben Moglen, Columbia University Law School [Explanatory note added in Jan 2013: this point.
6.1 Copyright Papers. If you maintain an FSF. When copyright is assigned to the FSF. (Specific instructions for both cases are sent with the assignment form.
Why the FSF gets copyright assignments from contributors
Do I need to fill in yet another copyright assignment form when the FSF begin accepting copyright assignments of eCos contributions?
GNU copyright assignment request form. Background. Mailman is a GNU project with the majority of the copyrights being held by the Free Software Foundation.
Contributing to GCC. We strongly encourage individuals as well as organizations to contribute to the development of GCC in the form of new features, new or improved.