[Openfontlibrary] Public Domain?

[Jan Claeys]

Op maandag 13-11-2006 om 08:32 uur [tijdzone +0000], schreef Rob Myers:
> Jon Phillips wrote:
> 
> > So how can there be a public domain or the equivalent in the EU and
> > these other countries? There must be some idea of common content and/or
> > cultural goods that these companies uphold, right? Or, is it just that
> > they are considered free?
> 
> I don't think we have a positive conception of the public domain in the 
> UK. We just have work with copyright expired, or work that cannot be 
> copyrighted (due to its form or to being traditional). Government work 
> is "Crown Copyright", not public domain like in the US.

Yes, I consider "copyright expired" == "public domain".

> So in the UK you'd have to say that you are waiving your copyright (and 
> Moral Rights if you wish) rather than that you are placing the work in 
> the public domain.

AFAIK in Belgium you can't really waiver (all) your "moral rights".


The problem with putting fonts in the public domain in e.g. the US is
that people in countries where this is not possible, might not have the
right to use those fonts (it's not public domain in their country, and
there is no license!).  Yes, "PD fonts" could maybe be non-free in those
countries, and at least some companies (those large enough to have
in-house lawyers ;) ) will shy away from using them.  So, IMHO, it would
be much better to have some sort of a PD-like license, and get everyone
to use that instead.


-- 
Jan Claeys