Re: public domain
Don Armstrong wrote:
> The standard method now (AFAIK) is to apply 17c2§201d.1[1] to transfer
> the ownership of the work to the public:
>
> (1) The ownership of a copyright may be transferred in whole or
> in part by any means of conveyance or by operation of law, and
> may be bequeathed by will or pass as personal property by the
> applicable laws of intestate succession.
>
> That's effectively what is being done (or at least, what's being
> attempted) in the cases where you state "This work is placed into the
> public domain."
Unfortunately, it's not clear whether that works. Transfers of real or
tangible personal property to "the public" usually seem to result in
transferring the property to the government (exactly which government is not
at issue at the moment). In this case that would be definitively
undesirable. And there aren't, to my knowledge, any copyright cases settling
this question.
In real property, if you really want to dedicate something to the public, you
generally have to give it to a charitable foundation committed to making it
available to the public in the way you desire.
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