Contributor License Agreement

[penrods]

As described in this blog post (https://mycroft.ai/right-license/), the GPLv3 license chosen originally for mycroft-core is having the opposite effect intended -- it is limiting the potential platforms that can use this software rather than expanding them. Thus it is moving to an Apache 2.0 license.

The Mimic project is already under the Carnegie Mellon University license that is similar to Apache 2.0, and I don't see any need to change that. However I believe there is still value in instituting the same Contributor License Agreement process.

The CLA is valuable for several reasons.

• It clarifies that code contributions to Mimic remain the property of the contributor (or the company employing the contributor), including any work that might later be patented.
• It clarifies that the code is submitted along with a license to use the code and algorithms in perpetuity in the confines of this project, and only this project.
• It clarifies that users of the contributed code can be confident that they will not be pursued for patent or royalties.

I believe this matches the intentions that everyone who has worked on this project has -- to collaboratively create something available to all. The CLA doesn't change this at all, rather it reinforces this work can be freely used by all.

To make this perfectly clean, I would like to have a CLA from all existing participants in the project. I'm using this issue to reach out to all these contributors.

If you are in this list, please use the https://mycroft.ai/cla form to request a link for digitally signing the Individual Contributor License Agreement. In order to be valid, we do need to know your legal name and address (courts don't recognize Github usernames yet :) ) but we will keep your name hidden if you would prefer to just be known publicly by your Github username.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to ask them either here or directly via my email.

Thank you for your contributions and help!

• Steve Penrod, CTO, Mycroft AI Inc.
  [email protected]

P.S. You can preview the contents of the Individual CLA and Corporate CLA.

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