Re: New 'Public Domain' Licence

[Sean Kellogg <skellogg@u.washington.edu>]

On Tuesday 07 June 2005 09:46 pm, Glenn Maynard wrote:
> On Tue, Jun 07, 2005 at 09:13:49PM -0700, Sean Kellogg wrote:
> > No argument from me...  but it is the system we've got here in the States
> > and FOSS developers should plan accordingly, just as is expected of
> > anyone else who enters into the world of copyrights.
>
> But that's just the problem--as far as I know, there's simply no way I can
> release a work under any license (permissive, copyleft or otherwise) to
> guarantee that you won't be bitten a few decades down the line.  The only
> way you can "plan accordingly", as far as I know, is to avoid reusing other
> people's code entirely.

You just might be right...  the current copyright statute came into effect in 
1978, so the soonest the current termination regime can come into effect in 
2012.  (the earlier version of termination relied on initial and second term 
stuff that is both weird and funky. Additionally, unlike the current 
termination right, you could alienate the renewal right)  It will be 
interesting to see if there is pressure from the content industry to push the 
35 year point back further, or eliminate it altogether, as we approach 
2012...  maybe you'll get your wish.

-Sean