That's a good observation, some inefficiencies are quite intentional. I didn't even know that about Linux until just the other night, when I was looking for non-GNU GPL projects that didn't require this process.
LWN.net has covered both sides of this subject quite well, in recent months, with the tedious process of relicensing VLC [1] and the GnuTLS copyright assignment controversy [2].
The politics of OSS make for some excellent reading.