Public Domain

[Patrick Draper <pdrap@yahoo.com>]

---Michael Maher <mike@redhat.com> wrote:

> > Public domain means that the owners give up all claim to the
copyright.
> > It would be perfectly legal for me to take all the code they
release,
> > change nothing, and then re-release it under the GPL.
> 
> That is not true.  A good example would be Borland's Turbo Vision. 
> It's 'Public Domain' with stipulations.  You can build against it, and
> distribute binaries only.  You can distribute source, but not theirs.
> It's stupid. 

Borland's Turbo Vision is therefore NOT public domain. Public domain
means that the copyright is expired or specifically renounced. If
Borland puts stipulations on their product, then that means that they
retain copyright and the right to restrict usage of their work.

Public domain means that you do not restrict usage of their work at all.

For example, all of Shakespeare's works are in the public domain,
becaus e the copyright is expired (he's been dead almost 400 years). I
am free to publish any Shakespeare plays in whatever form I feel like,
with or without changes. If I can't do the same with Turbo Vision,
then it's not public domain.


> Then there is Qt.  You can build and distribute source, but if you
make a
> game using Qt and try to sell it, you are breaking the license.  While

The existence of a license means that it is not public domain, by
definition.

> things claim to be 'free' or 'public domain' You really have to read 

Free is much different than public domain. If a license actually says
public domain, then I suspect that you could win a case in court
because the words "public domain" have a very specific legal meaning
in copyright law. It means no copyright whatsoever is claimed.


> comes to mind.  Their source was free, you could distribute l3 and
> distribute encoders and decoders.  Then they changed it to just
decoders..
> then they changed it to nothing.  Now they want to make mp4 and have a
> very constrictive license.  Anyone that invested alot of time and 

Patent issues have no bearing on public domain. Patents are
fundamentally different than copyrights.

Copyrights protect an implementation of an idea, such as a specific
wording of a play or story (paraphrases are allowed under copyright
law).

Patents protect inventions as intellectual property. Paraphrases
(alternative implementations) are not allowed without licencing from
the patent holder.


> > It's just a matter of referencing. If you release the code under the
> > GPL, and someone else mentioned that they downloaded your copy and
> 
> Just b/c you make a GPL porgram doesn't mean it's really GPL.  Look at
> RHIDE, the C compiler.  While all his code is GPL and everything he
did is
> GPL, b.c he built it against restrictive libraries he's screwed. 

This is a different, more expansive issue. Public domain code linked
against nothing else is public domain. Linking against other libraries
can modify how you can distribute and use the final executable.

> > changed it, then their work would also be GPL'ed. If someone else
only
> > referred to the public domain code as a prior work, even though the
> > public domain code and the GPL code are identical, then the code
based
> > on (referring to) the public domain code could be release under any
> > license.
> 
> huh?

Two versions: version A) is public domain, version b) is GPL. Both
versions are identical in every way.

Program C) derived from the original source code A) would be free to
choose whatever license desired.

Program D) derived from the original source code b) would be GPL'ed
now and forever.

Very simple.

> > Public domain will not lock up all versions of code so that they
> > cannot be GPL'ed. But, it will allow people to branch off versions
> 
> past versions of GPL'd code can be used.. but if it's public domain
well,
> I don't know.. it's best to refer to the license. 

Public domain has no license. Works enter the public domain in two
ways: The copyright expires (Shakespeare's works are PD because he
died 400 years ago) or through an explicit renunciation of copyright.

As an example of this, as I write this I own the copyright on this
particular e-mail message. Every work has a copyright, even if it is
an implicit copyright (not denoted by the Copyright 1998 Patrick
Draper verbage). However, I now have decided to put this email message
in the public domain. I now and forevermore renounce my copyright on
this particular e-mail message and place it in the public domain.

That's all there is to it. You can take this message and distribute it
completely unchanged, and claim that you wrote it, or whatever. I have
no legal rights to stop you.


 

==

Patrick Draper
Phoenix, Arizona
Check out Free Trek! 
www.concentric.net/~pdrap/free_trek/free_trek.shtml


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