Copyright on the Python and Python-console icons?

[Bengt Richter]

On Wed, 15 Jan 2003 19:05:31 -0500, Tim Peters <tim.one at comcast.net> wrote:

>>> figure-the-odds-ly y'rs  - tim
>
>[Bengt Richter]
>> Part of figuring would be trusting the current crew, a no-brainer.
>
>Thanks -- this is the kind of blind trust we're counting on <wink>.
>
>> Next I would wonder if the PSF is an entity whose assets
>> can be transferred by sale or bankruptcy proceedings etc.
>> Is there a poison-pill for any would-be asset-seizer?
>
>A huge one:  the PSF has applied for "public charity" status under the US
>Internal Revenue Service Code section 501(c)(3).  If such recognition is
>granted (and until that's resolved, we-- and potential raiders --have to act
>as if it has been granted), then, generally speaking, the assets of the PSF
>beyond its legitimate business debts can be distributed only to another
>public charity, or to a government.  This gives public charities in the US
>strong protection against "nuisance suits" -- unless you're a public charity
>too, you can't get anything out of it beyond legitimate damages.  Public
>charities hold assets "in the public interest", and the public-interest
>purpose is primary, surviving the death of the public charity that held
>them.
>
>> E.g., that might automatically convert to public domain,
>
>Whether any entity in the US apart from the government can meaningfully put
>something in the public domain appears to have the legal answer "no",
>according to one US lawyer who researched the issue.  Businesses and
>individuals supposedly can't disclaim copyright (the meaning of "public
>domain" -- nobody holds copyright) even if they want to.
>
I must confess to some confusion squaring this with the advice in PEP 001:
( http://www.python.org/peps/pep-0001.html )

"""
    3. Copyright/public domain -- Each PEP must either be explicitly
          labelled as placed in the public domain (see this PEP as an
          example) or licensed under the Open Publication License[4].
"""

and the notice at the bottom of PEP 001:

"""
Copyright

       This document has been placed in the public domain.
"""

Is the issue that "placing something in the public domain" should not
include a recursive deletion of the right to do so ;-)

If so, couldn't that be taken care of by defining the transfer of rights
to the public to be atomic with an independently surviving effect ;-)

Regards,
Bengt Richter