Public domain mistake?

[Alex Rousskov]

Daniel,

	Could you please clarify for a non-lawyer where you see the
"Public domain mistake" here (the Subject of your message)?

If my understanding is correct, you are saying that if a permissible
open source license agreement is not enforceable then the source code
is in public domain for all practical purposes. That sounds
reasonable/natural to me. Where is the public domain mistake?

Thanks,

Alex.

On Tue, 27 Jan 2004, daniel wallace wrote:

> If there exists a mistaken presumption of law (not material fact)
> which preempts or voids an open source license agreement and the
> source code has been widely distributed under that license, the
> copyrighted code permissions would exist in the public domain for
> all practical purpose.
>
> Anyone who could show they had invested time and effort in reliance
> on promised copyright permissions could claim promissory estoppel to
> continue developing and expanding projects into the future.
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