Axel Boldt wrote:
Ray Saintonge wrote:
Axel Boldt wrote:
Ironically, the bulk of [[Chess strategy and tactics]] was written by me and is therefore in the public domain.
Who defends the public domain?
Material that's in the public domain remains in the public domain forever. Nobody can attack it and nobody can defend it. You can slap a bogus copyright notice on a public domain work, but that does not change its public domain status.
This is a problem! I see "public domain" as "belonging to the people". When I ask about who defends the public domain, I implicitly ask about who defends the collective rights of the people.
You're right to say public domain status continues despite bogus copright claims, but that claim is not without implications. The ones whose use of that material is chilled, are likely those without the resources to verify those claims. I have plenty of material in old obscure books that are well into the public domain, if I were so inclined, it would be easy to publish it under my own copyright, and take steps (falsely) to defend that copyright.
Ec