Re: License questions
From: Bill Unruh (unruh_at_string.physics.ubc.ca)
Date: 08/09/03
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Date: Sat, 9 Aug 2003 17:51:40 +0000 (UTC)
Simon G Best <s.g.best@btopenworld.com> writes:
]Tom St Denis wrote:
]> After having getting enough info sent my way I'm sufficiently motivated
]> to fully move my libs to PD and scrap the TDCAL scheme.
]>
]> My question is how can I legally [and finally!] get my code under a PD
]> scheme that is actually legally binding and totally enforceable?
]>
]> Tom
]Having read this thread (and some related ones), I think it would really
]be a good idea for you to seek advice from lawyers on these matters.
](Would you trust a lawyer to give good, sound advice on how to engineer
]a cryptosystem? Would you trust sci.crypt to give good, sound legal
]advice?)
]Anyway, it's already clear that you're a bit confused about some of the
]relevant issues. (But we all are - it's legal stuff, after all!)
]One of the reasons for requiring people to include a copyright (and,
]perhaps, authorship) notice in all copies (including derivative works)
]is to protect the license. To protect the license, the copyright needs
]to be protected (as the license can only be given by the copyright
]holder (that's what copyright is, after all, and so this is true by
]definition)). To protect the copyright, the copyright holder needs to
]be identified and identifiable.
]Consequently, requiring that a copyright notice which names you as the
]copyright holder (perhaps also stating that you are the copyright holder
]because you are the author) be included in all copies (including
]derivative works) need not be a matter of forcing people to give you
]credit. It can just be a matter of protecting your right to allow
]others to freely use, modify and redistribute the stuff you happened to
]write.
]Anyway, some things I suggest you check with legal advisers:-
]* How does copyright work in Canada?
]* Does it depend on the country of publication?
]* If you publish something by putting it on, say, a web server in the
]US, does that mean the country of publication is the US? Would it then
]be US law that applies?
]* What constitutes the public domain in the relevant country?
]* Can a copyright holder put something into the public domain? (I've
]heard it said, a few times, here in the UK, that this cannot be done in
]the UK ('Public Domain' ('PD') doesn't exist in this sense). (Dunno if
]this is true, though.))
Of course they can. They can state that they relinquish all rights in
the work, and that anyone and everyone can do with it, and copy it in
any way they wish. That is what "public domain" means. Furthermore the
copyright act itself says that works enter the public domain (ie cease
to have any protection under the copyright act) after a certain period
of time.
](By the way, there aren't (usually) different kinds of 'Public Domain'
]in the sense that there are different kinds of copying licenses. And a
]'Public Domain' license is usually a nonsensical notion, as there's no
]licensing authority to issue such a license (as there's no copyright
]holder to be such a licensing authority (as it's in the public domain)).)
Yes, you are the copyright holder, until you relinquish that right.
Thereafter the work is no longer of any legal relevance to you.
]* What about liability?
A totally different issue. liability is a concept outside of copyright.
You can have liability for something that was never covered by
copyrigth. Whetehr or not you place it in the public domain or not, does
not influence other liabilities.
]* What about authorship / intellectual property laws? (They might
]apply to others, regardless of what the author / copyright holder wants.)
?? You certainly cannot do anything about the legal status under
copyright for something which you are not the author, or which you have
not received the right from the author.
]* What about these issues internationally? If you have no liability in
]Canada, might you still be liable in some other country? If it's in the
Liable for what? Copyright has nothing to do with liability under other
legal areas. Releasing your knife into the public domain does absovle
you from the murder you commited with that knife. Releasing your writing
into the public domain is irrelevant to the libel that you commit in
that writing.
]public domain in Canada, would it automatically be in the public domain
]in some other country? If, in Canada, people aren't required to
]acknowledge your authorship of your work, might they still be required
]to explicitly acknowledge your authorship in some other country?
Canada and Britain both have the concept of moral rights which are
different from copyright-- ie the right of the author to have, or NOT to
have, his/her name associated with the work. The copyright and moral
right are treated differently and act very differently in terms of
assignment. But you can certainly relinquish that right if you so
desire.
]* What about if someone (however unsensibly) subsequently (falsely)
]claims copyright and/or authorship? What other sorts of disputes might
]possibly (however unsensibly) arise? What do you need to do to guard
]against such possibilities?
They may, and you could then point out that the work was copied from
elsewhere in which case their copyright claim would be invalid. I could
claim to be the author of Hamlet, usually ascribed to Shakespear, but
any attempt I made to enforce that claim would fail miserably.
]It might be a bit of a chore, but it's hopefully just something you'll
]only need to go through once. Once you've worked out what license (or
]whatever) is needed to satisfy your wishes, you can just issue that
]license with all those works of yours which you wish to issue that
]license with.
The first decision is where you wish to keep any kind of control over
the copying of that work. (For example, despite all of the rhetoric
about "copyleft" etc, the GPL IS a license under copyright statutes
whcih does restrict the rights of a user to copy the work.) If you have
no desire to restict the copying of the work, then put it into the
public domain, and refuse to engage in action action to enforce your
claims to copyright. If you want to accomplish something else, make sure
you figure out what you want to accomplish, and write the license
accordingly.
]But yes: seek proper legal advise! :-D
]Simon
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