From owner-freebsd-current Wed Aug 22 16:50:59 2001 Delivered-To: freebsd-current@freebsd.org Received: from theinternet.com.au (co3040619-a.kelvn1.qld.optushome.com.au [203.164.207.8]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 2475C37B40F for ; Wed, 22 Aug 2001 16:50:29 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from akm@theinternet.com.au) Received: (from akm@localhost) by theinternet.com.au (8.11.4/8.11.4) id f7MNoR855267 for freebsd-current@freebsd.org; Thu, 23 Aug 2001 09:50:27 +1000 (EST) (envelope-from akm) Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2001 09:50:27 +1000 From: Andrew Kenneth Milton To: freebsd-current@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Copyright Contradiction in libalias (Summary) Message-ID: <20010823095027.O21855@zeus.theinternet.com.au> References: <200108202249.f7KMnjU93566@hak.lan.Awfulhak.org> <20010821091441.F21855@zeus.theinternet.com.au> <006e01c12a43$48f9cb30$3028680a@tgt.com> <20010821114020.T313@blossom.cjclark.org> <20010821231841.B96292@hades.hell.gr> <20010821153116.Z313@blossom.cjclark.org> <15234.58543.854779.892964@nomad.yogotech.com> <20010821162913.B313@blossom.cjclark.org> <20010823014158.B4824@hades.hell.gr> <20010823092518.N21855@zeus.theinternet.com.au> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Mailer: Mutt 0.95.4i In-Reply-To: <20010823092518.N21855@zeus.theinternet.com.au>; from Andrew Kenneth Milton on Thu, Aug 23, 2001 at 09:25:18AM +1000 Sender: owner-freebsd-current@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk List-ID: List-Archive: (Web Archive) List-Help: (List Instructions) List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG I guess we can summarize now? :-) 1) If you are the author of software, it's a bad idea to simply release code into the Public Domain, mainly because you can't protect your self from litigation by placing disclaimers in your code. 2) Public Domain means you relinquish your copyright control over your work (but, you can still claim to be the author). Regaining control could be difficult, you can't simply take something and license it if it's not "different enough". E.g. adding comments or a license isn't changing the work enough to give you or anyone else copyright control. The amount of difference required could come down to local law interpretations. 3) Actually abandoning copyright can be difficult. Some countries don't allow or recognise Public Domain. 4) Some countries require registration for copyright to be granted, others don't, some do both. 5) Some people incorrectly think that Public Domain is synonymous with OpenSource or Shareware. 6) Source Licenses are a way to remove or loosen restrictions already implicitly granted because of copyright laws. 7) Some countries don't have copyright laws so 1-6 are moot points in those countries anyway. 8) Noone contributing to this thread is a copyright lawyer. -- Totally Holistic Enterprises Internet| | Andrew Milton The Internet (Aust) Pty Ltd | | ACN: 082 081 472 ABN: 83 082 081 472 | M:+61 416 022 411 | Carpe Daemon PO Box 837 Indooroopilly QLD 4068 |akm@theinternet.com.au| To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-current" in the body of the message