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From: "Ben A L Jemmett" <bal.jemmett@ukonline.co.uk>
Subject: Re: the ultimate IF archive
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References: <3c5140ae.1475140@news.hotkey.net.au> <a2vioh$775$1@news.panix.com> <a2vpbr$pec$2@news.fsf.net> <269806b2.0201262216.518b08b6@posting.google.com> <a306e2$1dt$1@news.fsf.net> <269806b2.0201270119.1b64befd@posting.google.com>
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Date: Sun, 27 Jan 2002 09:48:27 GMT
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"kodrik" <kodrik@zc8.net> wrote in message
news:269806b2.0201270119.1b64befd@posting.google.com...
> adam@fsf.net (Adam Thornton) wrote in message
news:<a306e2$1dt$1@news.fsf.net>...
> > It is not in the public domain.
>
> Sorry, you should read:
> Are the files readily available to the public?

I think *you* should read.  A few articles on copyright law first, then a
dictionary.  Collins has the following to say on the matter:

public domain  n.  1.  U.S.  lands owned by the state or by the federal
government.  2. the status of a published work or invention upon which the
copyright or patent has expired or which has not been patented or subject to
copyright.  It may thus be freely used by the public.

It has nothing to do with availability, merely whether the work is subject
to copyright.  *ALL* works have an implicit copyright, which has to be
*explicitly* revoked before the work becomes public domain.  So, the only
works you can *assume* to be freely redistributable are the ones stating
'This work has been placed in public domain.' or similar.

--
Regards,
Ben A L Jemmett.
(http://web.ukonline.co.uk/ben.jemmett/, http://www.deltasoft.com/)


