Re: public domain question

On Mon, 27 Mar 2000, Rod Dixon <rod[_at_]cyberspaces.org> wrote:
>
> In the copyright context, I prefer to think of public domain as
> conceptually denoting that copyright "ownership" in a particular work
> of a particular form has been divested from somebody and is hence
> forth is owned by nobody.
>
> I agree that it is proper to say that the public "owns" the work, but
> expressing the concept of public domain by reference to public ownership
> is confusing and, perhaps, imprecise.
>
> This is particularly true in instances where we are dealing with what
> I call a proxy for the "public" such as a state university or some
> other such entity which (aside from the Federal government) may own a
> copyright interest in a work. (The issue gets even more complex with
> regard to patents, which not only may be owned by public units, but
> may be secretly "owned" by the public, if the Federal government so
> decides.) Under these proxy exceptions, it is clear that the works are
> not in the public domain, but some may view the public (or units of the
> public) as owning the intellectual property in the works, and I would
> agree. Let's reserve the ownership public domain works to no one.

Do you know if there is a legal definition for "public domain" in respect to the intellectual works? I am pretty sure that it has a legal definition for land. Someone who has access to the latest edition of _Black's_Law_Dictionary_ may want to give us the definitions for "public domain".

Second question I have is when the term "public domain" is first used (inside or outside of court) to represent the state of the intellectual works that are not under copyright and patent.

I am not trying to speak strictly. It is nice (and very helpful for me) to put the term "public domain" in a historical context.

Joseph Pietro Riolo
<riolo[_at_]voicenet.com>

Number of days left until 1-1-2019 when all knowledge of 1923 in the land of the U.S.A. will be freed from their copyright owners' prisons: 6,850 Received on Thu Mar 30 2000 - 18:11:10 GMT