Re: Documentation licenses (GFDL discussion on debian-legal)
On Wed, 2002-12-04 at 18:41, Steve Langasek wrote:
> On Wed, Dec 04, 2002 at 06:27:29PM -0500, David Turner wrote:
>
> > > - the Project gutenberg texts (not that their license is currently free)
>
> > Their license is moot in sane countries -- the texts are in the public
> > domain. Er, modulo the small percentage of life+50 texts. And modulo
> > Australia, which seems to have rejected Feist, although the case is on
> > appeal to the Supreme Court there.
>
> Public domain means that anyone is free to use the material for any
> purpose whatsoever, *including* creating derived works which would
> themselves be subject to copyright. AFAIK, this would include
> editorializing or annotating the texts.
Countries which reject Feist grant copyright merely on the "sweat of the
brow", which typing or scanning texts for PG certainly is. PG doesn't
create derivative works, except perhaps in non-Feist countries. So, I
don't think your message contradicts what I wrote.
--
-Dave Turner Stalk Me: 617 441 0668
"Once a man has tasted freedom he will never be content to
be a slave." - Walt Disney
Reply to: