Technically, you could slap a license on the work (and, thereby, assert copyright), but no one may care about your licensed version since the work remains in the public domain. As a practical matter, you could "add value" to the public domain work and then license it. Or, you could create a derivative work. Or, you could do nothing to the work, but distribute the work "better" than the federal government does (this last choice is a frequent use of public domain works). Consequently, Brian is correct.
Rod [EMAIL PROTECTED] opensource.cyberspaces.org On Tue, 17 Feb 2004 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > Brian Behlendorf scripsit: > > > So what happens when I download the code under a FOIA/public domain issue, > > and then relicense under a BSD license? Don't I have the right to > > relicense PD works? > > You can do anything you want to with a public domain work except try to assert > a valid copyright on it, which is one of the incidents of the BSD or any > other open-source license. So, no. > > -- > John Cowan [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.reutershealth.com www.ccil.org/~cowan > "You cannot enter here. Go back to the abyss prepared for you! Go back! > Fall into the nothingness that awaits you and your Master. Go!" --Gandalf > -- > license-discuss archive is at http://crynwr.com/cgi-bin/ezmlm-cgi?3 > -- license-discuss archive is at http://crynwr.com/cgi-bin/ezmlm-cgi?3