Dedication to the public domain

>Dear Mary Brandt Jensen,

>In your recent reply to Paul Filmer, you stated that

>"The author of the paper retains the copyright
>unless he specifically dedicates the work to the public domain or
>assigns the copyright to someone else."

>What I would like to know is, what specifically should I do when I wish
>to dedicate one of my works to the public domain? Evidently I must write
>something, and sign it. What should it say? Do I have to send a copy to
>someone? Should I attach some kind of "uncopyright notice" to the work
>when I distribute it? Also, I imagine that if I have co-authors, we must
>all take part in this dedication. Do we all have to sign the same piece
>of paper, or what?

>Yours,

>Peter Doyle

In the case of a joint work you would need the permission of the other joint authors to dedicate the work to the public domain. Although all joint authors have the right to enter into non exclusive licenses, one joint author does not generally have the right to destroy the work and thus deprive the other joint owners of their ownership.

In the case of a work by a single author or where all joint authors agree, dedication to the public domain could occur in several ways.

The copyright office will accept and register affadavits or any other writing signed by all the copyright owners which abandons a copyright.

In addition, most authors could accomplish what they would like to accomplish through dedication to the public domain but placing a blanket permission statement somewhere on the work. I would suggest the verso of the title page for a book, or a preliminary footnote attached to the author statement or byline for articles.

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