[socal-piggies] License question

[Dan Stromberg]

Howard B. Golden wrote:
> On Sunday January 17, 2010, Dan Stromberg wrote:
>
>   
>> I've heard mixed comments about "Public Domain" software.  Some say
>>  it's an all-permissive license, some say it isn't a license.  Some
>>  say it doesn't truly exist, that even if you say something is PD,
>>  it's still under your own copyright.  Others say that if you make
>>  something PD, it's truly a free for all, and someone else can come
>>  along, take the PD code, copyright it, and legally bar the original
>>  author from having any rights to the code they wrote.
>>     
>
> I suggest reading the public domain article in Wikipedia. It makes it 
> clear that one cannot copyright something put into the public domain by 
> the author or copyright holder, even if it is incorporated into a 
> copyrighted work.
>
> One concern I would have about public domain vs. another approach (e.g., 
> MIT license (see Wikipedia)) is that the licenses allow you to disclaim 
> any liability or warranties (including implied warranties). Of course, 
> IANAL.
>
> Howard
>
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>   
 From the wikipedia page:

It is commonly believed by non-lawyers that it is impossible to put a 
work into the public domain. Although copyright law generally does not 
provide any statutory means to "abandon" copyright so that a work can 
enter the public domain, this does not mean that it is impossible or 
even difficult, only that the law is somewhat unclear.