Comment by gunapologist99

This seems factually incorrect, but in a nuanced way.

The copyright owner of a code is the one listed as such. In cases of multiple contributors, each owns the copyright to their individual contributions. For projects with shared contributions, it's more accurate to say each necessary part has its own copyright owner, rather than a common ownership.

Free software projects do have copyright owners, which can be entities like non-profits or companies. This ownership is crucial for legal standing in copyright infringement cases, except for public domain code, which isn't copyrighted.

It's wise to have a Contributing.md or similar, stating that contributors affirm their creation is original, free from patent issues, and they agree to license their contribution under the project's terms.

Without such agreements, there's a risk contributors might withdraw their code, claiming it wasn't licensed under the project's terms, potentially leaving gaps in the project.

Simply hosting code on a site with a common license doesn't automatically apply that license to your code unless you explicitly agree to it.