IAHM-COL wrote in Fri Jun 12, 2015 5:18 am:Ed. may bring you also the point that adding a license file is not necessarily fully legally binding.
It is not essential, but good to have to strengthen the case.
IAHM-COL wrote in Fri Jun 12, 2015 5:18 am:That a registration with the patent offices or whatever may be required.
Thankfully there are not patents in the FlightGear project. In the US you can register your copyrights with the US Copyright Office, but I don't know what kind of additional advantages that gives you under US law. Well, apart from being a requirement for litigation:
Anyway, in case the link is broken in the future, they answer this question with:
Copyright.gov wrote:No. In general, registration is voluntary. Copyright exists from the moment the work is created. You will have to register, however, if you wish to bring a lawsuit for infringement of a U.S. work. See Circular 1, Copyright Basics, section "Copyright Registration."
IAHM-COL wrote in Fri Jun 12, 2015 5:18 am:He may be right. Still, in my opinion, if real trouble were to arise, a git repository may be a great tool to demostrate innoncence --and even true originality/ownership. Keep in mind that in git everything is time-stamped. And the copy brings those time stamps too -- of, as an example, when did you make a commit. And who made the commit, and the exact content of the diff, to the semicolon at the end of lines precision. You can prove when/why/how/who a change was made with very little doubt left.
All SCM systems in existence do this.
IAHM-COL wrote in Fri Jun 12, 2015 5:18 am:A zip file on a mediafire link is useless for such purpose. So I would say, a git repository is a good practice as well.
Actually, the time stamps on the files in the ZIP file are pretty compelling evidence that would be accepted by a court of law. Lawyers will use all evidence that can get their hands on to prove copyright ownership.