Re: Copyright question

[David Kastrup <dak@...>]

Tony Finch <dot@dotat.at> writes:

> David Kastrup <dak@gnu.org> wrote:
>>
>> To actually place something in the public domain, you need to _register_
>> it as such I think.
>
> No. For instance, when a work falls out of copyright decades after the
> author's death, who is going to register it as such?

It usually has been registered _as_ copyrighted, which automatically
registers the time when it enters the public domain.  At least that was
the idea before Mickymouse law lobbying started, with the result that at
least in the U.S., no works have entered the public domain due to
copyright expiry for something like the last 50 years.  The laws always
got extended in time to keep that from happening.

> Most western countries do not have any registration requirements for
> copyright at all, whether to assert it or renounce it.

And more often than not, they have no formal way of transferring a work
(short of copyright running out) into the public domain, either.

> Most jurisdictions don't have a formal concept of the public domain
> and don't have any way for authors to renounce all their rights.

[...]

> This is why the Creative Commons Zero ("no rights reserved") licence
> exists, to express the concept of a public domain dedication in a way
> that doesn't rely on legal concepts peculiar to the United States.
>
> http://wiki.creativecommons.org/CC0_FAQ

Yup.  The world is crazy.  Different countries are crazy in different
ways.

-- 
David Kastrup