The GCC compiler, like other GNU projects, has long required contributors
to complete paperwork assigning the copyrights on their work to the Free
Software Foundation. That requirement has just been dropped, and
contributors can now attach a Signed-off-by tag indicating use of the
Developers Certificate of
Origin instead. “This change is consistent with
the practices of many other major Free Software projects, such as the
Linux kernel.” Initial discussion suggests that some developers
were surprised by this change and are yet to be convinced that it is a good
idea.

Source: LWN.net – GCC drops its copyright-assignment requirement