Creative Commons and public domain declarations

[Lawrence Rosen]

> In particular, the whole point of Section 203 terminations is that the
> right to terminate is untransferable (except by will) and unwaivable:
> 203(a)(5) says:
> 
> 	Termination of the grant may be effected notwithstanding
> 	any agreement to the contrary, including an agreement
> 	to make a will or to make any future grant.
> 
> While presumably an author dedicating something to the public domain
> wouldn't want to exercise s. 203 termination, the views of his heirs
> may be quite different.

This is true for licenses as well. Calling something "perpetual" in a
license *or* in a public domain dedication doesn't necessarily make it so.

By the way, the s. 203 termination rights apply to individual copyright
owners, not works made for hire. 

/Larry