Re: Software Licensing Agreement

Help me out here. What risks and flaws? If I as the copyright owner put something into the public domain, what is the risk? Not that I will sue, surely. Nor that it is not in the public domain.

What flaw? That people will not know that it has been put into the public domain and therefore will not use it as if it were?

I guess I see no risk or flaw in simply relinquishing the copyright and putting the IP in the work in the public domain.

Steve

On Feb 6, 2006, at 4:40 PM, Lawrence Rosen wrote:

>>> Some of us believe that a public domain disclaimer has some
>> risks and
>>> flaws under current copyright law, which does not make any
>> provision
>>> for such disclaimers.
>>
>> There are always some individuals who claim that disclaiming
>> intellectual property rights is not possible. That's their opinion.
>> Until there is clear law or court case that it is not
>> possible to disclaim intellectual property rights, their
>> opinion is completely groundless.
>
> Mr. Riolo,
>
> You again misread my remarks. I did not use the word "impossible."
> I merely
> suggested that there are "risks and flaws under current copyright
> law."
>
> Rather than suggest that people put their works into the public
> domain, you
> might want to grant a broad and effective license that can avoid
> those risks
> and flaws.
>
> /Larry
>
> ** Lawrence Rosen
> ** Rosenlaw & Einschlag, technology law offices
> ** Stanford University School of Law, Lecturer in Law
> ** 3001 King Ranch Road, Ukiah, CA 95482
> ** 707-485-1242 * fax: 707-485-1243
> ** Author of "Open Source Licensing: Software Freedom
> ** and Intellectual Property Law" (Prentice Hall 2004)
> ** [www.rosenlaw.com]
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: CNI-COPYRIGHT -- Copyright & Intellectual Property
>> [mailto:CNI-COPYRIGHT[_at_]cni.org] On Behalf Of Joseph Pietro Riolo
>> Sent: Monday, February 06, 2006 9:15 AM
>> To: CNI-COPYRIGHT -- Copyright & Intellectual Property
>> Subject: [CNI-(C)] Re: [CNI-(C)] Re: [CNI-(C)] Software
>> Licensing Agreement
>>
>> On 1/30/06, Lawrence Rosen <lrosen[_at_]rosenlaw.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> This proves a danger of giving specific legal advice on a
>> public list.
>>
>> You are very, very, very mistaken in portraying my post as a
>> legal advice. None of my posts is ever intended to be legal advice.
>>
>>>
>>
>>> Some of us believe that a public domain disclaimer has some
>> risks and
>>> flaws under current copyright law, which does not make any
>> provision
>>> for such disclaimers.
>>
>> There are always some individuals who claim that disclaiming
>> intellectual property rights is not possible. That's their opinion.
>> Until there is clear law or court case that it is not
>> possible to disclaim intellectual property rights, their
>> opinion is completely groundless.
>>
>>
>> Joseph Pietro Riolo
>> <josephpietrojeungriolo[_at_]gmail.com>
>> <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: 4,712
>>
>> Public domain notice: I put all of my expressions in this
>> post in the public domain.
>>
>> #############################################################
>> This message is sent to you because you are subscribed to
>> the mailing list <CNI-COPYRIGHT[_at_]cni.org>.
>> To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <CNI-COPYRIGHT-off[_at_]cni.org> To
>> switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to
>> <CNI-COPYRIGHT-digest[_at_]cni.org> To switch to the INDEX mode,
>> E-mail to <CNI-COPYRIGHT-index[_at_]cni.org> To postpone your
>> subscription, E-mail to <CNI-COPYRIGHT-null[_at_]cni.org> To
>> resume mail list message delivery from postpone mode, E-mail
>> to <CNI-COPYRIGHT-feed[_at_]cni.org> Send administrative queries
>> to <CNI-COPYRIGHT-request[_at_]cni.org>
>>
>> Visit the CNI-COPYRIGHT e-mail list archive at
>> <https://mail2.cni.org/Lists/CNI-COPYRIGHT/>.
>
>
> #############################################################
> This message is sent to you because you are subscribed to
> the mailing list <CNI-COPYRIGHT[_at_]cni.org>.
> To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <CNI-COPYRIGHT-off[_at_]cni.org>
> To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to <CNI-COPYRIGHT-digest[_at_]cni.org>
> To switch to the INDEX mode, E-mail to <CNI-COPYRIGHT-index[_at_]cni.org>
> To postpone your subscription, E-mail to <CNI-COPYRIGHT-null[_at_]cni.org>
> To resume mail list message delivery from postpone mode, E-mail to
> <CNI-COPYRIGHT-feed[_at_]cni.org>
> Send administrative queries to <CNI-COPYRIGHT-request[_at_]cni.org>
>
> Visit the CNI-COPYRIGHT e-mail list archive at <https://
> mail2.cni.org/Lists/CNI-COPYRIGHT/>.
>

-- 
Prof. Steven D. Jamar                               vox:  202-806-8017
Howard University School of Law                     fax:  202-806-8567
2900 Van Ness Street NW
mailto:stevenjamar[_at_]gmail.com
Washington, DC  20008   http://www.law.howard.edu/faculty/pages/jamar/

"Dance like nobody's watching; love like you've never been hurt. Sing  
like nobody's listening; live like it's heaven on earth."

often attributed in various forms to Mark Twain, but I can't find  
it.  I like it anyway.