public domain

John Cowan jcowan at reutershealth.com
Thu Nov 8 16:40:14 UTC 2001


DeBug wrote:

> "If it's posted to Usenet it's in the public domain."
> False. Nothing modern is in the public domain anymore unless the owner explicitly puts
> it in the public domain(*). Explicitly, as in you have a note from the author/owner
> saying, "I grant this to the public domain." Those exact words or words very much like them.


It's debatable whether that works either: plenty of well-respected
people think there is no way at all to place something in the
public domain except by allowing the copyright term to expire.

As a special exception, works made by the U.S. government are in the
public domain, at least in the U.S.

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