Path: utzoo!yunexus!oz
From: oz@yunexus.UUCP (Ozan Yigit)
Newsgroups: comp.sources.d
Subject: Re: copyright terminology (long)
Keywords: s5last,pd-last,pd,freely distributable
Message-ID: <925@yunexus.UUCP>
Date: 28 Nov 88 16:16:33 GMT
Article-I.D.: yunexus.925
References: <391@tron.UUCP>
Reply-To: oz@yunexus.UUCP (Ozan Yigit)
Organization: York U. Computing Services - Magic Group
Lines: 30

In article <391@tron.UUCP> moran@tron.UUCP (Harvey R Moran) writes:

>Why a copyright notice?  It is my (mis?) understanding that without
>some such notice some programs have already been effectively
>removed from the public domain by someone who's only connection with the
>program is that they used a legal trick to abscond with it.

Nothing that is placed in the public domain may be removed from that
domain, although a modified version of that same work may be copyrighted
and hence restricted. The *original* cannot, in any way, be restricted.
There are an uncountable number of literary and artistic work, not to
mention major software packages (for example, franz-lisp) in this
situation.

I suspect though, that it takes some care to make a significant program
public domain, to avoid future slime-trick (perhaps this is what you were
referring to) where somebody copyrights a modified version of the work,
and than attepts to claim that the public-domain version is in fact an
illegal copy of their(?) work...

For any major work, the best technique may be to have a "copyrighted" beta
release, and then, drop the copyright in the final release with a
statement indicating the release into the public-domain.

oz
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