On Tuesday, Sep 2, 2003, at 11:45 US/Eastern, Rick Moen wrote:
And if that person objects that, no, he really, really wants to destroy
his copyright and make the code be actually (or at least effectively
but
for certain so) public domain, then I would advise him that it's an
imperfect world, and nobody knows how to do that without the risk of
creating very troublesome legal questions for the remaining duration of
the copyright term.
Why not do something like:
<statement (maybe) releasing work to public domain>
If the above is not legally possible, then (name[s]) grant(s) you
and any other party receiving this code a perpetual, irrevocable,
royalty-free license to [everything copyright law prohibits].
(name[s]) additionally grant(s) you a royalty-free... license
to do anything else that you would be allowed to do with a
work in the public domain.
It is the intent of (name[s]) that this work be treated as if
the "public domain" statement above is valid.
What would be wrong with that? Best case, it is public domain; worst
case, it is public domain in all but name.
