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It is a very sad story. Our company committed to open sourcing all of our code (it's in the web3/blockchain space), and we had, and continue to have, spirited discussions about which parts we should maybe license differently, as they contain novel IP. But my main question is: if your code is open-sourced, and the community contributed: fixes, features, actual new products - what gives you the right to close it? Are you going to go back and compensate every contributor? How can you justify revenue made on the backs of contributors. Side note: if what Prusa is alleging about Chinese patents given for open-source code produced in the west, and then having international priority, is true, I think the UN (or whoever handles international patents) should look into that.
We can't control what goes on in China, but we can damn well make sure no Chines company makes money outside of China, with co-opted IP. |
Typically you're not able to close source existing code, once it's open it's open. What you can do is make the changes going forward proprietary.
Depending on if you got a contributor-license-agreement you may not be able to close source the community contributions, but if the code was licensed under something non-viral like MIT or BSD you have as much right to close source it as literally anyone else does.
I guess I really don't understand the question. You have the rights as outlined in the license, people who contribute agree to those license terms.