[License-discuss] Can copyrights be abandoned to the public domain?

[Tom Callaway]

On 08/14/2012 02:22 PM, Rick Moen wrote:
> I've responded that of course I might be wrong, but not for non-sequitur
> reasons like that.  It's funny how many people cannot seem to grasp that
> corporate counsel's job is to protect company legal interests, not make
> pronouncements on points of legal theory.  ;->

Indeed. If the question is: "Is this legally possible?", the answer
might very well be "No", "Yes", or "Maybe", depending on the situation,
the jurisdiction, and the case law at the time you ask the question.

That doesn't meant that in practice, a clear and thorough public domain
declaration (or copyright abandonment statement) isn't safe to act on,
use, wear as a hat, etc. etc. Red Hat and Fedora think it is safe enough
to trust. You can decide for yourself if you think it is.

We're not attempting to pronounce that public domain declarations are
legally possible everywhere, but we are saying that we think in
situations where there is clear intent from a copyright holder for
unrestricted permissions on works, we feel it is safe for us to treat
them as if they were in the public domain.

~tom

P.S. C A L L A W A Y. Like the golf clubs.

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