Copyright on the Python and Python-console icons?

Tim Peters tim.one at comcast.net
Wed Jan 15 19:05:31 EST 2003


>> figure-the-odds-ly y'rs  - tim

[Bengt Richter]
> Part of figuring would be trusting the current crew, a no-brainer.

Thanks -- this is the kind of blind trust we're counting on <wink>.

> Next I would wonder if the PSF is an entity whose assets
> can be transferred by sale or bankruptcy proceedings etc.
> Is there a poison-pill for any would-be asset-seizer?

A huge one:  the PSF has applied for "public charity" status under the US
Internal Revenue Service Code section 501(c)(3).  If such recognition is
granted (and until that's resolved, we-- and potential raiders --have to act
as if it has been granted), then, generally speaking, the assets of the PSF
beyond its legitimate business debts can be distributed only to another
public charity, or to a government.  This gives public charities in the US
strong protection against "nuisance suits" -- unless you're a public charity
too, you can't get anything out of it beyond legitimate damages.  Public
charities hold assets "in the public interest", and the public-interest
purpose is primary, surviving the death of the public charity that held
them.

> E.g., that might automatically convert to public domain,

Whether any entity in the US apart from the government can meaningfully put
something in the public domain appears to have the legal answer "no",
according to one US lawyer who researched the issue.  Businesses and
individuals supposedly can't disclaim copyright (the meaning of "public
domain" -- nobody holds copyright) even if they want to.

> or whatever freedom guarantees the legal types can think up?
>
> Not that I'm worried, but ... ;-)

The sun will rise tomorrow too, although I'm not an astronomer either.






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