Re:Why your next project should be public domain
by michaelt on Thursday July 11, 2013 @10:18AM
(#6026137)
Are MIT or BSD licenses any better in this regard? I mean, I'm sure the american boilerplate written by american lawyers would hold up in an american court - but if I'm not under the American legal system, how do I know I don't need different boilerplate?
For all I know the MIT license might be (say) invalid in France, because it's written in the wrong language, or invalid in Russia because the the first paragraph isn't written in ALL CAPS, or invalid in Taiwan because it doesn't expressly waive moral rights to the integrity of the work.
Re:Why your next project should be public domain
by gw on Thursday July 11, 2013 @09:21AM
(#6025835)
Understood, but not being able to "legally" use my code is not the same thing as not being able to use my code. Public domain is an important enough principle that I don't think we should be ceding so readily, just so we can appease the dysfunctional copyright regimes around the world.
Re:Why your next project should be public domain
by warp on Thursday July 11, 2013 @02:26PM
(#6028058)
If a project contains code which infringes someone's copyright, then no professional is going to touch that code. Companies with any kind of legal department will not use it, linux distributions will not ship it, etc..
So, I cannot use your code. Many open source projects are developed by volunteers around the world, they will also not be able to legally use your code. If this is your intent, that is fine, it is your choice. Usually that is not what people intend when they try to put their code in the public domain.