[Fedora-legal-list] ii package license

[Josh Boyer]

On Fri, Feb 3, 2012 at 8:08 AM, Tristan Santore
<tristan.santore at internexusconnect.net> wrote:
> Petr and Josh,
>
> Spot made the following change in the guidelines.
>
> *****
>
> Works which are clearly marked as being in the Public Domain, and for
> which no evidence is known to contradict this statement, are treated in
> Fedora as being in the Public Domain, on the grounds that the intentions
> of the original creator are reflected by such a use, even if due to
> regional issues, it may not have been possible for the original creator
> to fully abandon all of their their copyrights on the work and place it
> fully into the Public Domain. If you believe that a work in Fedora which
> is marked as being in the Public Domain is actually available under a
> copyright license, please inform us of this fact with details, and we
> will immediately investigate the claim.
>
> *****
>
> #!/bin/sh
>
>     2 # ----------------------------------------------------
>
>     3 # Nico Golde <nico at ngolde.de>
>
>     4 # License: do whatever you want with this code
>
>     5 # Purpose: locate new queries for the ii irc client
>
>     6 # ----------------------------------------------------
>
> I interpret the above statement just as such. Technically, I assume you
> could even re-license it on the original copyright holders behalf, as
> the copyright holder invites you to do with it as you please.

It's not clearly marked.  Clearly marked would be "This code is Public Domain"
or simply "Public Domain".  The author is not relinquishing copyright with the
terse statement, they are just saying you can do whatever you want with the
code.  It's a subtle difference IMHO.

josh