Do I need license to release the Python version of old BASIC games?

[Chris Angelico]

On Mon, Jun 22, 2015 at 2:23 PM, Michael Torrie <torriem at gmail.com> wrote:
> From some brief research, it appears there is some question about the
> ability to declare something to be in the public domain, but it is by no
> means a sure thing and lots of people feel it's just fine to declare
> something to be in the public domain.  What his heirs try to assert is
> probably not his concern nor would I worry about it.  This is wandering
> in the weeds in typical python-list style!

It's a consideration for anyone who wants to make use of it. Imagine,
instead of stating that the recordings are in the public domain, it
said "Copyright, blah blah, but we pledge not to sue anyone for
copyright violation for an unspecified and unspecifiable period".
Would you use it? Because that's potentially what a "public domain"
declaration is, with the period being defined as "until the current
owner dies". That's not something to depend on, so I'd much rather
give things away under something more explicit like MIT.

ChrisA