[schoen]

I wonder if this is a risk for Conservancy if some other party claims that some piece of GPLed software violates its rights somehow. Would other parties name Conservancy as a defendant in lawsuits if they learn that copyrights have been assigned to it? (Maybe there's some remedy that plaintiffs would sometimes like to try to get that only the copyright holder can provide, like assigning copyright to a plaintiff in a settlement?)

[cmeacham98]

I don't believe that owning the copyright to software can ever be infringing, at least in the US (disclaimer: not a lawyer, feel free to correct). It is generally the act of distributing said software that falls into some sort of legal violation.

[schoen]

I agree, but I don't immediately understand if that would necessarily always save Conservancy from being drawn into lawsuits about other matters.