[geo-discuss] [rms at gnu.org: A suggestion for publicgeodata.org]

Wed Apr 12 10:15:38 UTC 2006

Intellectual property is nevertheless a valid concept.

It's best to think of it in these terms:

Publication is the voluntary act of transferring private ownership of IP
from the author to the public.

The abominable distortion of the term IP comes when it is suggested that the
author retains ownership after publication.

This has never been the case. Copyright was designed to encourage such
ownership transfers by granting the author a monopoly over
publication/reproduction for a limited period of time.

If it has (C) written on it, it means "Public Property".

Unpublished/private IP belongs to the author.
Published/public IP belongs to the public.

It's really quite simple.
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