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Except it is not true that "current IP laws prevent anything from entering the public domain".

by bugsy 16y ago

steveklabnik 16y ago
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mickey_mouse_law http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mickey_mouse_law Every time copyright is about to run out on Mickey Mouse, they extend the length of copyright. So far, it's gone from 14 years to 70 years plus the lifetime of the creator. It is obscene.
- bugsy 16y ago
  Sure, there is a good argument to be made that 70 years plus life is extensive. However, anyone who wants to place their content into the public domain is free to do so. I have done so myself many times. And those who do not wish to do so, that is their right as well. What I would like to see in reform is moral rights of creators respected like they do in many other countries.
  - bediger 16y ago
    Please elucidate. Post some URLs that give step-by-step instructions for "placing content into the public domain". Show some examples. I've heard tell that it's almost impossible to currently, in the US, place anything in the public domain, so I'd love, love, love to see the process to do so. I'd do it myself for some software I've written.
    - bugsy 16y ago
      I hereby release the following original story into the public domain: Once upon a time five philosophers came for dinner to eat fish. But there was no fish, or utensils to eat the fish. This was a sad day for the five philosophers. A servant boy was sent to buy five fine bowls of spaghetti and five plastic forks. The servant boy quickly succeeded at his mission, returned, and set the table for the five philosophers. They sat down and were about to start eating when one of the philosophers said, "Stop, no one touch a thing. This is a trap."
    - Natsu 16y ago
      There are a number of caveats, but bugsy is essentially correct in how to do it. It's those caveats that make life difficult. I don't remember all of them, but you can't disclaim some things like moral rights (usually not applicable, but they relate to things like vandalism of the work & the right to attribution as the author and vary by jurisdiction), with some works like music, you can end up with the licensing organizations collecting royalties on it without your authorization, there are always trademark issues to consider, doubly so for some special trademarks like that of the Red Cross and the Olympics which are enshrined in laws that implement international treaties, and probably a host of other things, including strange things like common law copyrights (there was a case in NY about what should have been public domain music falling back under copyright a few years back). So... yeah, you can disclaim your work into the public domain, but there are still gotchas out there and you need proper legal advice to avoid them even when you're using what should be copyright-free works, because there are all sorts of weird formalities like the requirement in the USA that copyrights can't transfer without a "written memorandum of transfer." If you just want people to be able to use your software, I'd probably just use a BSD license instead of the public domain. It's permissive enough that it shouldn't create problems for anyone.
    - pbhjpbhj 16y ago
      http://wiki.creativecommons.org/PDM_FAQ http://wiki.creativecommons.org/PDM_FAQ Public domain mark FAQ from the CC people. You'll probably want to look at http://wiki.creativecommons.org/CC0_FAQ http://wiki.creativecommons.org/CC0_FAQ which is the disclaimer from copyright (CC0) FAQ. An excerpt from the later: "How does it work? A person using CC0 (called the “affirmer” in the legal code) waives all of his or her copyright and neighboring and related rights in a work, to the fullest extent permitted by law. If the waiver isn’t effective for any reason, then CC0 acts as a license from the affirmer granting the public an unconditional, irrevocable, non exclusive, royalty free license to use the work for any purpose."

Except it is not true that "current IP laws prevent anything from entering the public domain".

by bugsy 16y ago

Except it is not true that "current IP laws prevent anything from entering the public domain".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mickey_mouse_law http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mickey_mouse_law Every time copyright is about to run out on Mickey Mouse, they extend the length of copyright. So far, it's gone from 14 years to 70 years plus the lifetime of the creator. It is obscene.

bugsy 16y ago
Sure, there is a good argument to be made that 70 years plus life is extensive. However, anyone who wants to place their content into the public domain is free to do so. I have done so myself many times. And those who do not wish to do so, that is their right as well. What I would like to see in reform is moral rights of creators respected like they do in many other countries.
- bediger 16y ago
  Please elucidate. Post some URLs that give step-by-step instructions for "placing content into the public domain". Show some examples. I've heard tell that it's almost impossible to currently, in the US, place anything in the public domain, so I'd love, love, love to see the process to do so. I'd do it myself for some software I've written.
  - bugsy 16y ago
    I hereby release the following original story into the public domain: Once upon a time five philosophers came for dinner to eat fish. But there was no fish, or utensils to eat the fish. This was a sad day for the five philosophers. A servant boy was sent to buy five fine bowls of spaghetti and five plastic forks. The servant boy quickly succeeded at his mission, returned, and set the table for the five philosophers. They sat down and were about to start eating when one of the philosophers said, "Stop, no one touch a thing. This is a trap."
  - Natsu 16y ago
    There are a number of caveats, but bugsy is essentially correct in how to do it. It's those caveats that make life difficult. I don't remember all of them, but you can't disclaim some things like moral rights (usually not applicable, but they relate to things like vandalism of the work & the right to attribution as the author and vary by jurisdiction), with some works like music, you can end up with the licensing organizations collecting royalties on it without your authorization, there are always trademark issues to consider, doubly so for some special trademarks like that of the Red Cross and the Olympics which are enshrined in laws that implement international treaties, and probably a host of other things, including strange things like common law copyrights (there was a case in NY about what should have been public domain music falling back under copyright a few years back). So... yeah, you can disclaim your work into the public domain, but there are still gotchas out there and you need proper legal advice to avoid them even when you're using what should be copyright-free works, because there are all sorts of weird formalities like the requirement in the USA that copyrights can't transfer without a "written memorandum of transfer." If you just want people to be able to use your software, I'd probably just use a BSD license instead of the public domain. It's permissive enough that it shouldn't create problems for anyone.
  - pbhjpbhj 16y ago
    http://wiki.creativecommons.org/PDM_FAQ http://wiki.creativecommons.org/PDM_FAQ Public domain mark FAQ from the CC people. You'll probably want to look at http://wiki.creativecommons.org/CC0_FAQ http://wiki.creativecommons.org/CC0_FAQ which is the disclaimer from copyright (CC0) FAQ. An excerpt from the later: "How does it work? A person using CC0 (called the “affirmer” in the legal code) waives all of his or her copyright and neighboring and related rights in a work, to the fullest extent permitted by law. If the waiver isn’t effective for any reason, then CC0 acts as a license from the affirmer granting the public an unconditional, irrevocable, non exclusive, royalty free license to use the work for any purpose."