Copyleft/guide Changeset - 62a0c3b4fb65

Changeset - 62a0c3b4fb65

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Bradley Kuhn (bkuhn) - 10 years ago 2014-03-15 17:56:28
bkuhn@ebb.org

Wordsmithing in the public domain section.

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gpl-lgpl.tex

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gpl-lgpl.tex

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 copyright interest on the work. In the USA and other countries that have
 signed the Berne convention on copyright, software is copyrighted
 automatically by the author when she ``fixes the software into a tangible
 medium.''  In the software world, this usually means typing the source code
 of the software into a file.
 Imagine if an author can truly disclaim that default control given to her by the
 copyright laws. Once this is done, the software is in the public domain
 --- it is no longer covered by copyright. Since it is copyright law that
 allows for various controls on software (i.e., prohibition of copying,
 modification, and redistribution), removing the software from the
 copyright system and placing it into the public domain does yield Free
 Software.
 Imagine if authors could truly disclaim those default control of copyright
 law.  If so, the software is in the public domain -- no longer covered by
 copyright.  Since copyright law is the construction allowing for most
 restrictions on software (i.e., prohibition of copying, modification, and
 redistribution), removing the software from the copyright system usually
 yields software freedom for its users.
 Carefully note that software in the public domain is \emph{not} licensed
 in any way. It is nonsensical to say software is ``licensed for the
 public domain,'' or any phrase that implies the copyright holder gave
 expressed permission to take actions governed by copyright law.
 By contrast, what the copyright holder has done is renounce her copyright
 controls on the work. The law gave her controls over the work, and she
 has chosen to waive those controls. Software in the public domain is
 absent copyright and absent a license. The software freedoms discussed in
 By contrast, the copyright holders instead renounced copyright controls on
 the work.  The law gave the copyright holder exclusive controls over the
 work, and they chose to waive those controls.  Software in the public domain
 is absent copyright and absent a license. The software freedoms discussed in
 Section~\ref{Free Software Definition} are all granted because there is no
 legal system in play to take them away.
 \subsection{Why Copyright Free Software?}
 If simply disclaiming copyright on software yields Free Software, then it
 stands to reason that putting software into the public domain is the
 easiest and most straightforward way to produce Free Software. Indeed,
 some major Free Software projects have chosen this method for making their

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