PE> Someone once told me that "public domain" was not a recognized
PE> term in Australian copyright law (although it is likely to be
PE> accepted anyway).

RS> Thats just talking about minimising the hassle involved in getting
RS> what you want with PD code done. Its considerably overstated IMO too.

PE> Can you expand on that, I didn't really understand it.

Basically there is a concept of public domain. Something that anyone
can do anything they like with with impunity. For example silly jokes
are clearly public domain, you can repeat them whenever you like change
them as much as you like.

Now with a piece of source code, what you would like to do is
have some way of saying that that source code is public domain.

Superficially you just say that in the source code. He was saying
that that is a phrase which doesnt have a rigid meaning under Aust law
and was saying that it would be safer to say it in some other way.

BUT all he was really saying is that if you do just say its public
domain in the source code, using those words, that that might result
in a bit of farting around in a court action because the phrase public
domain isnt clearly defined in the Aust legal system, so they would
argue about what it meant.

And I think he overstated the problem anyway. Yes, its not clearly
defined in Aust law. No, I dont see that being a massive problem in
practice. Mainly because I cant see anyone would bother to try to
say convince a court that they owned some code which had that phase
describing it. I think its mostly legalistic wanking and I would just
keep using the phrase public domain myself.

PE> So what does Australian copyright law say happens to a
PE> piece of work 50 years after the death of the author ?

RS> Copyright law has nothing to do with PD stuff, only copyright stuff.

RS> Its not too clear if you are just mangling the two concepts or are
RS> now asking a completely separate question about what happens with
RS> copyright stuff. Its got nothing to do with PD.

PE> Two separate questions.  This second question is what does Australian
PE> law say happens to a piece of copyrighted work 50 years after the
PE> death of the author.  Presumably it says something like "50 years
PE> after the death of the author, the work becomes public domain".

Something like that. Trouble is that while that stuff is quite clearcut
with a thing written by just one author, it gets complicated when you
have copyright owned by a company and stuff thats changed over time.
The concept of death of the author gets very messy indeed etc.

And I dont think its worth worrying about with software anyway.
Tho its important with say a book.

--- PQWK202