At 01:22 PM 10/18/00 -0500, Michael A. Miller wrote:
>I'd like to package ImageJ: http://rsb.info.nih.gov/ij/
>
> "ImageJ is a public domain Java image processing program
> inspired by NIH Image for the Macintosh. It runs, either as an
> online applet or as a downloadable application, on any
> computer with a Java 1.1 or later virtual machine."
>
>There is a copyright and licensing issue that I think needs to be
>explored - the author tells me that
>
> "ImageJ is in the public domain. No license is required.
> There is no copyright. You are free to package the ImageJ
> source code and JAR file with Debian Linux, but please
> include a README file that points to the ImageJ Web page so
> people can get documentation and updates."
>
>I have asked the author to license the work according to one of
>the GPL, BSD or Artistic licenses. Can anyone advise me as to
>the need for that? Are there examples of "public domain"
>software in Debian where the issues of copyright and license are
>made explicit?
"Copyright" is a monopoly on the right to copy, distribute, derive from,
perform, etc. In order to copy, distribute, etc a copyrighted work, one
must get permission from the copyright holder.
A (copyright) license is the embodiment of permission form the copyright
holder, specifying exactly what the copyright holder is permitting you to
do, and under what conditions.
"Public Domain" is a condition in which a work has no legitimate copyright,
either because it expired or was repudiated by the author. No license to
copy, etc, can exist because there is no one to grant permission -- and no
one to deny it either. Anyone can do whatever they want with the public
domain -- including package it as a binary-only package in a non-free
product with no credit to the original author. There is no monopoly; it
belongs to the public.
It should be sufficient in this case to include the author's statement in
the COPYRIGHT file, since the statement you quoted is a clear repudiation
of his copyrights on the program.
I am not a Debian Developer myself... If you want a reasonably official
pronouncement, you might want to try debian-legal instead.
>Mike
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