Public domain software is not open-source?

[Alexander Terekhov]

On Sun, Mar 2, 2008 at 8:44 AM, Rick Moen <rick at linuxmafia.com> wrote:
[...]
> See:  "Public Domain" on http://linuxmafia.com/kb/Licensing_and_Law/ ,
> for my recap of some obstacles to unambiguously nullifying, by act of
> will, a work's copyright ownership interest, before expiration of its
> copyright term.

"Waiver is the intentional relinquishment of a known right with
knowledge of its existence and the intent to relinquish it." United
States v. King Features Entm't, Inc., 843 F.2d 394, 399 (9th Cir.
1988). In copyright, waiver or abandonment of copyright "occurs only
if there is an intent by the copyright proprietor to surrender rights
in his work." 4 Melville B. Nimmer & David Nimmer, Nimmer On Copyright
¶ 13.06 (2000); see also Micro Star v. Formgen, Inc., 154 F.3d 1107,
1114 (9th Cir. 1998) (discussing abandonment). ; A&M RECORDS, Inc. v.
NAPSTER, INC., 239 F.3d 1004 (9th Cir. 2001)

"It is well settled that rights gained under the Copyright Act may be
abandoned. But abandonment of a right must be manifested by some overt
act indicating an intention to abandon that right. See Hampton v.
Paramount Pictures Corp., 279 F.2d 100, 104 (9th Cir. 1960)." Micro
Star v. FormGen Inc. 154 F.3d 1107 (9th Cir. 1998)

regards,
alexander.

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