DUEL support

[Sergei Golubchik]

Hi!

On Nov 19, Robert Dewar wrote:
> Sergei Golubchik wrote:
> 
> >Yes, according to the "GPL vs. public domain" file in the
> >distribution he was (though it was in 1993). But why would it matter,
> >he explicitly put his patch under public domain ?
> 
> One potential problem is that in some countries, for sure France, it
> is not possible for an author to entirely disclaim copyright moral
> rights, so putting something in the public domain can be a legally
> dubious notion.

Not really. An author cannot disclaim all rights, but he can disclaim
material rights, which is enough to re-release a software as GPL.

> And how do we know the patch is in the public domain even in the US
> without a signed document. A notice on a file means nothing legally.

There're signed documents too - I mean publications and PhD thesis where
the author says plain and clear that "Duel is public-domain software".

Regards
Sergei