Re:Ownership of open source flashcard app Anki transferred t...
by KPGv2 on Tuesday February 03, 2026 @12:44AM
(#46866985)
Yeah, and while they say AnkiDroid is going to be maintained by the original creator separate from AnkiHub, we won't be privy to any employment contract language that makes any work done by the employee as being property of AnkiHub. Which would be an issue.
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Re:Ownership of open source flashcard app Anki transferred t...
by Tarq0n on Tuesday February 03, 2026 @03:26AM
(#46868152)
A contributor's license agreement would overrule the terms of the employment contract, assuming they set one up properly.
Re:Ownership of open source flashcard app Anki transferred t...
by IshKebab on Tuesday February 03, 2026 @07:22AM
(#46870108)
Why would that be an issue?
Re:Ownership of open source flashcard app Anki transferred t...
by KPGv2 on Tuesday February 03, 2026 @11:52AM
(#46873511)
Because it would mean any contribution by AnkiDroid's owner to AnkiDroid would be considered property of his new employer, AnkiHub.
Re:Ownership of open source flashcard app Anki transferred t...
by IshKebab on Wednesday February 04, 2026 @02:11AM
(#46882509)
If it's still open source it doesn't matter who owns the copyright.
Re:Ownership of open source flashcard app Anki transferred t...
by caspar on Wednesday February 04, 2026 @03:45AM
(#46883218)
Not strictly true afaik? If you own the copyright to the entire codebase you can relicense at will to a different license. (that's what CLAs enable among other things)
Not sure whether you'd still be entitled to the source code under the previous license then.. can a copyright owner revoke a previously issued license to the code? Haven't heard of it, but wouldn't surprise me if it's legal.
Re:Ownership of open source flashcard app Anki transferred t...
by IshKebab on Wednesday February 04, 2026 @06:25AM
(#46884501)
I am aware, but I don't think that's what OP was talking about.
You can't revoke previously issued licenses (unless the license allows it, which it doesn't in this case).
Re:Ownership of open source flashcard app Anki transferred t...
by efreak on Thursday February 05, 2026 @06:24PM
(#46906895)
Sure, you can change the license, but the old license still applies to the code as it was before you changed it. Assuming you're using a legit open source license the first time around, nothing changes regarding how you can make use of the old code; all they can do is make it harder to find (close the repo) or harder to make use of (squashing/flattening the commits to make it impossible to get the correct historical version), both of which are trivially bypassed by using a third party fork or source release.