Public Domain and liability

[Rod Dixon, J.D., LL.M.]

I think it may be a very good idea. In fact, some states are developing free
software...especially state-run universities. It's fairly well-known that
the contributions of the Univeristy of Illinois and UC-Berkeley are
significant in regards to  Internet software.

States, of course, will not give away all (or even most) of their
intellectual property, but I think some have made significant contributions
as a result of the software development projects at universities, which
often are sponsored by Federal grants.

Rod

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Brice, Richard [mailto:BriceR at WSDOT.WA.GOV]
> Sent: Tuesday, August 08, 2000 10:23 AM
> To: 'Rod Dixon, J.D., LL.M.'; John Cowan
> Cc: bcretney at postmark.net; License Discuss
> Subject: RE: Public Domain and liability
>
>
> It is my understanding that State government is not bound by the same
> "public domain" requirements as the Federal government in 17 USC 105. That
> is, because States are not explicitly included in the exclusions
> of who can
> hold copyrights, States have the right to copyright their works.
>
> Given that, what are your thoughts on States using an open source
> license on
> software they develop?
>
> 	-----Original Message-----
> 	From:	Rod Dixon, J.D., LL.M. [SMTP:rod at cyberspaces.org]
> 	Sent:	Monday, August 07, 2000 8:27 PM
> 	To:	John Cowan
> 	Cc:	bcretney at postmark.net; License Discuss
> 	Subject:	RE: Public Domain and liability
>
> 	Good point, John. I was thinking more in terms of works being
> "released to
> 	the public domain" by expiration of copyright or some other
> operation of
> 	law. You are exactly correct. The federal government cannot claim
> copyright
> 	to its own works so those works are public domain works at their
> inception
> 	under copyright law (one caution: a patent may be obtained).
>
> 	As a practical matter and aside from military or national security
> uses, the
> 	Federal government acts as a market player (rather than a software
> 	developer) so the vast majority of software programs used by or
> created for
> 	the Federal government are works licensed to the government from
> private
> 	sector sources and university research. Of course, these works
> usually do
> 	not by operation of law immediately become public domain works.
>
> 	Rod
>
> 	> -----Original Message-----
> 	> From: John Cowan [mailto:cowan at locke.ccil.org]
> 	> Sent: Monday, August 07, 2000 7:58 PM
> 	> To: Rod Dixon, J.D., LL.M.
> 	> Cc: bcretney at postmark.net; License Discuss
> 	> Subject: RE: Public Domain and liability
> 	>
> 	>
> 	> On Mon, 7 Aug 2000, Rod Dixon, J.D., LL.M. wrote:
> 	>
> 	> > Strictly speaking, this discussion is theoretical since I know
> 	> of no public
> 	> > domain works that are software programs. (This is not to say
> 	> that  there is
> 	> > not any source code in the public domain).
> 	>
> 	> Software programs written by U.S. government employees
> 	> within the scope of their employment are surely in the public
> domain.
> 	> For example, see the software programs linked to
> 	> http://mapping.usgs.gov/www/products/software.html .
> 	> As a specific example,
> 	> http://geochange.er.usgs.gov/pub/tools/misc/reform.c
> 	> is the source code for a public-domain program (though not
> explicitly
> 	> dedicated to the public domain within the code itself).
> 	>
> 	> --
> 	> John Cowan                                   cowan at ccil.org
> 	> C'est la` pourtant que se livre le sens du dire, de ce que, s'y
> conjuguant
> 	> le nyania qui bruit des sexes en compagnie, il supplee a ce
> qu'entre eux,
> 	> de rapport nyait pas.               -- Jacques Lacan, "L'Etourdit"
> 	>
> 	>
> 	>
>