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From: dmt@mtunb.ATT.COM (Dave Tutelman)
Newsgroups: news.admin,sci.electronics,comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: network public domain?
Message-ID: <1389@mtunb.ATT.COM>
Date: 8 Feb 89 18:16:23 GMT
References: <2712@looking.UUCP> <1449@papaya.bbn.com> <2944@stiatl.UUCP> <24371@amdcad.AMD.COM>
Reply-To: dmt@mtunb.UUCP (Dave Tutelman)
Organization: AT&T Bell Labs - Lincroft, NJ
Lines: 44

>In article <2944@stiatl.UUCP> john@stiatl.UUCP (John DeArmond) writes:
>|This network is public domain and if you don't want anything in
>|the public domain, DON'T POST IT.

In article <24371@amdcad.AMD.COM> phil@diablo.AMD.COM (Phil Ngai) writes:
>I was trying to decide if I should get my company to post some free,
>useful, but NOT public domain, software to the network. 
>You've just helped me decide not to bother.

Phil,
Please don't be put off by the rantings of someone who is wrong.
(The first time I wrote, "...doesn't know the difference between public
domain and freely-distributable copyrighted stuff";  but I have no
evidence that John doesn't know the difference.)

MUCH discussion in the "sources" and "legal" groups seems to support
the notion that a posting with a proper copyright notice is simply
another form of publication; it in no way places the published material
in the public domain.  I've posted my own copyrighted stuff, and
not feared for its fate.  Stuff that's copyrighted and NOT "freely
copyable" probably shouldn't be posted, but I assume that's not what
you're talking about.

Just be sure your posting contains:
   -	A statement that it's copyrighted.
   -	A statement of the conditions for copying, reposting, modifying, etc.
   -	A statement that the original copyright notice MUST accompany
	any distribution of your work or its derivatives.

If you doubt it, just look at what gets posted in groups like
comp.sources.misc or comp.binaries.ibm.pc.  And note that when someone
inadvertently posts something that shouldn't have been, the net
community gets on him/her pretty quickly.

Perhaps the net IS "public domain", whatever that means.  To the same
extent, so is the public library.  But that doesn't place everything
there in the public domain; it just makes it available to the public.

+---------------------------------------------------------------+
|    Dave Tutelman						|
|    Physical - AT&T Bell Labs  -  Lincroft, NJ			|
|    Logical -  ...att!mtunb!dmt				|
|    Audible -  (201) 576 2442					|
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