No, public domain isn't recognized by copyright law as a copyright notice. An extra line should be added that says something like "no copyright is claimed", and attach a year range where the copyright is in effect (since copyright expires, if I remember correctly). Anyway, the keyword here is "copyright", which is recognized internationally (which means you should use this word even if writing the copyright notice in another language).
Without a copyright notice, the code isn't apt for distribution. The author could claim that he did not give his consent for public distribution and that the code was an in-house development. Anyway, it's too complicate and I understand very little. To get the real facts here, you should talk to your lawyer. 2007/12/21, Alexey Zakhlestin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > > isn't "public domain" specific enough? > > On 12/21/07, Martin Alterisio <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > 2007/12/20, Stanislav Malyshev <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > > > > > > > Attached is a quick patch for PHP 5.2.5 that replaces RSA's > copyrighted > > > > implementation of MD5 with my public domain one: > > > > > > > > > > > > http://cvsweb.openwall.com/cgi/cvsweb.cgi/Owl/packages/popa3d/popa3d/md5/ > > > > > > Tried that one and it is about 30% faster indeed (on md5-only > benchmark, > > > 32-bit Linux on AMD Opteron. Anybody objects to accepting this? > > > > > > > > Just one, but is a mere formality. I didn't see any copyright notice on > the > > code nor a licensing document attached. I have not much of the legal > > mumbo-jumbo comprehension, so, correct me if I'm wrong, shouldn't > external > > code that's to be included in the php codebase meet these legal > formalities > > so it doesn't become a liability? > > > > That's all. > > > > Best Regards, > > > > Martin Alterisio > > > > PS: Does anyone knows if using a nickname for authorship is considered > > legally valid? I believe it might be valid, think about writers that use > > such pseudonyms, but I'm not sure... > > > > > -- > Alexey Zakhlestin > http://blog.milkfarmsoft.com/ >
