Re: how to properly specify "Public Domain"?
Maybe this thread helps:
http://lists.debian.org/debian-legal/2005/06/msg00018.html
On 30/03/06, Frank Küster <frank@debian.org> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Summary:
>
> If there's a file in one of my packages that only declares to be in the
> public domain, do I have to contact the author and let him clarify this,
> or can I leave things as they are?
>
>
> I recall to have been told that, in order to make a piece of software
> free, it is not sufficient to say "This file is in the public domain",
> but that instead one has to write something like "Everybody is free to
> use, distribute and/or modify it".
>
> On the other hand, I have learned meanwhile that in some legislations
> the term Public Domain does indeed have a defined meaning. From this I
> would conclude that declaring something "Public Domain" should be
> sufficient, and that effectively no court could sanely assert a
> copyright infringement if someone used a file on that basis, even when
> the term doesn't have a well-defined meaning there - at least if the
> copyright holder is from a country where it has.
>
> Regards, Frank
>
> --
> Frank Küster
> Single Molecule Spectroscopy, Protein Folding @ Inst. f. Biochemie, Univ. Zürich
> Debian Developer (teTeX)
>
>
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