Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watnot!watmath!clyde!rutgers!husc6!panda!genrad!decvax!ucbvax!ICST-CMR.ARPA!rbj From: rbj@ICST-CMR.ARPA.UUCP Newsgroups: comp.emacs Subject: Re: Public Domain vs. Copyrighted Message-ID: <8704031651.AA19403@icst-cmr.arpa.ARPA> Date: Fri, 3-Apr-87 11:51:18 EST Article-I.D.: icst-cmr.8704031651.AA19403 Posted: Fri Apr 3 11:51:18 1987 Date-Received: Sun, 5-Apr-87 03:13:10 EST Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Distribution: world Organization: The ARPA Internet Lines: 25 ? (Root Boy) Jim "Just Say Yes" Cottrell wrote: ? >? ... Public domain means that the program can be sold, etc - ? >? no one owns it, while the GNU copyright restricts the use. ? > ? >So if anyone can do anything with it, one can slap the GNU copyright ? >on it. That doesn't mean they *own* it, but the value is that people ? >*think* thay do. ... ? ? Not quite, once something has been distributed as public domain, it ? can't be copyrighted. ? ? -Dave Sill ? dsill@nswc-oas.arpa True, it can'y *be* copyrighted, but it can *claim* to be copyrighted. As I said before, most people will just assume that it is and avoid `violating' the `copyright'. This same procedure is used by people who write contracts. They add intimidating but legally invalid clauses, and the man on the street just assumes that because he signed them that he agreed to them and that they are legally binding. (Root Boy) Jim "Just Say Yes" Cottrell Wait.. is this a FUN THING or the END of LIFE in Petticoat Junction?? P.S. Where is -oas anyway, Dahlgren? My dad (same name) works at White Oak.