Re: source code written by monkey
* Jacobo Tarrio <jacobo@tarrio.org> [080811 15:20]:
> > While these claims seem somewhat far-fetched, the end result is still
> > that the author has asserted the work is public domain. Why not
> > accept that?
>
> Because that is not possible in Germany, where (I believe) the author lives.
I think it is all a matter of (mis-)translation. The German law is
centered around "authorship", so depending how you translate something,
you get different results. The rights to determine who is allowed to
modify/copy/... are first owned by the author and can just be sold or
waived like in US law (would US copyright law be that difference when
you could not sell copyright but give someone an exclusive license to
relicense?).
Am I am not a layer and have not asked any about this, but I see no
reason at all why an English sentence like "I hereby place this work
in the public domain." should be interpreted as anything else but
"I hereby give anyone an license to anything that would otherwise need
my permission by law" by any German court.
There are of course some rights not waiveable (sometimes called "moral
rights"), but I do not buy the theory that US law does not have them.
§203 offers authors the possibility to terminate transfers and licenses,
and in §106A allows and author (and explicitly not the copyright owner)
of an "visual art" to prevent "distortion, mutilation, ...".
They may be smaller in scope and amount, but are definitly there...
Hochachtungsvoll,
Bernhard R. Link
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