{"action":"created","issue":{"url":"https://api.github.com/repos/necolas/normalize.css/issues/405","labels_url":"https://api.github.com/repos/necolas/normalize.css/issues/405/labels{/name}","comments_url":"https://api.github.com/repos/necolas/normalize.css/issues/405/comments","events_url":"https://api.github.com/repos/necolas/normalize.css/issues/405/events","html_url":"https://github.com/necolas/normalize.css/issues/405","id":54717830,"number":405,"title":"CSS file to be under copyright or license should have copyright notice","user":{"login":"Nick-Levinson","id":10383950,"avatar_url":"https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/10383950?v=3","gravatar_id":"","url":"https://api.github.com/users/Nick-Levinson","html_url":"https://github.com/Nick-Levinson","followers_url":"https://api.github.com/users/Nick-Levinson/followers","following_url":"https://api.github.com/users/Nick-Levinson/following{/other_user}","gists_url":"https://api.github.com/users/Nick-Levinson/gists{/gist_id}","starred_url":"https://api.github.com/users/Nick-Levinson/starred{/owner}{/repo}","subscriptions_url":"https://api.github.com/users/Nick-Levinson/subscriptions","organizations_url":"https://api.github.com/users/Nick-Levinson/orgs","repos_url":"https://api.github.com/users/Nick-Levinson/repos","events_url":"https://api.github.com/users/Nick-Levinson/events{/privacy}","received_events_url":"https://api.github.com/users/Nick-Levinson/received_events","type":"User","site_admin":false},"labels":[],"state":"open","locked":false,"assignee":null,"milestone":null,"comments":6,"created_at":"2015-01-19T01:16:16Z","updated_at":"2015-02-22T21:42:02Z","closed_at":null,"body":"When a *.css file is installed on a website, it is usually separate from any non-CSS files it came with in a Zip archive. So, a person reading the CSS file and wishing to copy it needs to know not only that there's a license but that it's under copyright so that a license is required. If you want to have the MIT license or any copyright license govern normalize.css, you should put a copyright notice in the CSS file itself and then you need to point to the license, either by providing the text of it in each file or by giving a URL for it. Simply writing \"MIT License\" is legally not notice enough of a copyright claim, under U.S. Federal law. I'm not a lawyer, so feel free to ask one, but right now an infringer would have the defense of innocent infringement, still illegal but with less of a cost to the infringer. Since you have reserved an obligation in the license, you evidently don't want your work released into the public domain.\r\n\r\nThe place to put the copyright notice is at the top or very near the top, before a mention of the license. Mention of the license should include a URL where it may be read in full text.\r\n\r\nA similar issue for h5bp is already at the topic \"need copyright notices and clearer license info inside CSS files #1655\" (https://github.com/h5bp/html5-boilerplate/issues/1655), where it was suggested, I think, that I post separately here.\r\n\r\nI'll be happy to add a copyright notice referring to whomever has the copyright to the copies of the CSS files I might install soon, if someone will post what that notice should say (normally it would be in the form of \"Copyright [year/s] [creator/s]\")."},"comment":{"url":"https://api.github.com/repos/necolas/normalize.css/issues/comments/75462729","html_url":"https://github.com/necolas/normalize.css/issues/405#issuecomment-75462729","issue_url":"https://api.github.com/repos/necolas/normalize.css/issues/405","id":75462729,"user":{"login":"Nick-Levinson","id":10383950,"avatar_url":"https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/10383950?v=3","gravatar_id":"","url":"https://api.github.com/users/Nick-Levinson","html_url":"https://github.com/Nick-Levinson","followers_url":"https://api.github.com/users/Nick-Levinson/followers","following_url":"https://api.github.com/users/Nick-Levinson/following{/other_user}","gists_url":"https://api.github.com/users/Nick-Levinson/gists{/gist_id}","starred_url":"https://api.github.com/users/Nick-Levinson/starred{/owner}{/repo}","subscriptions_url":"https://api.github.com/users/Nick-Levinson/subscriptions","organizations_url":"https://api.github.com/users/Nick-Levinson/orgs","repos_url":"https://api.github.com/users/Nick-Levinson/repos","events_url":"https://api.github.com/users/Nick-Levinson/events{/privacy}","received_events_url":"https://api.github.com/users/Nick-Levinson/received_events","type":"User","site_admin":false},"created_at":"2015-02-22T21:42:02Z","updated_at":"2015-02-22T21:42:02Z","body":"Basically, yes, since I tend to be cautious about law.\r\n\r\nCSS files are more likely than some others to be viewed as source code and therefore there needs to be English-language notice (not just machine-readable notice) in the file. My practice is to provide both English-language and machine-readable notice in every page's source code (I've generally written HTML or XHTML plus CSS) as well as notice that when interpreted by a browser will display notice where it can be seen by a non-techie visitor to the website (that last notice is usually at the bottom of a page but the source code has the other two notices in the head element or near the top in a comment). If the license itself contains the notice and it is reprinted in the file near the top and the notice is near the top of the license text, that will likely suffice, depending on layout etc. I'm not sure that the MIT license requires printing its full text in every file, as that could depend on whether \"substantial portions of the Software\" means every file (and if a file is an image or audio file that could be technically difficult, cumbersome, or impossible but \"page\" might be a possibility although I'm not sure the drafters of the MIT license meant page either), but if it is decided to publish it in full text near the top of the CSS file then that could be the basis for a solution."}}