Copyright and License

[Tim Peters]

[Mark Hammond]
> [And a question I dont want to raise - what really does this "copyright"
> mean, in the open source world?  It appears we are saying "we assert
> copyright, but never intend actually enforcing it".  The words of the
> tim-bot still echo (paraphrased) - "if possible, put it in the public
> domain" :-)  As I said, I dont want to raise it :-]

[Aahz Maruch]
> The primary purpose is to prevent someone else from asserting copyright.

And what if they do?  If the original is public domain, anyone can continue
using it, modifying it, etc.  Everything I've released in Python has been
explicitly public domain, and there's been no downside.  The one
Python-related thing I did with a copyright was the Emacs pymode, and I
lived to regret that over several years, in a seemingly endless hassle to
get the copyright assigned to the FSF (which finally succeeded late last
year, after being "an issue" since mid '94(!)).

If you assert copyright, you're making a legal claim.  If you want to avoid
lawyers, avoid making legal claims <wink>.

ralph-griswold-put-the-icon-language-in-the-public-domain-and-has-had-
    a-happy-life-ever-since-ly y'rs  - tim