Re: public domain to GPL?

[Alexander Terekhov]

amicus_curious wrote:
[...]
>        You cannot assert a copyright for a public domain or any other
> program that you didn't produce. 

Right.

>                                   You can assert a copyright on the work as a
> whole where you have made some unique changes to the original expression,

Wrong. You can assert a copyright on some unique changes to the original
work but that is less than the work as a whole (new expression +
original expression).

http://law.onecle.com/uscode/17/103.html

-----
The copyright in a compilation or derivative work extends only to the
material contributed by the author of such work, as distinguished from
the preexisting material employed in the work, and does not imply any
exclusive right in the preexisting material.

[...]

Section 103(b) is also intended to define, more sharply and clearly than
does section 7 of the present law [section 7 of former title 17], the
important    interrelationship and correlation between protection of
preexisting and of "new" material in a particular work. The most
important point here is one that is commonly misunderstood today:
copyright in a "new version" covers only the material added by the later
author, and has no effect one way or the other on the copyright or
public domain status of the preexisting material.
-----

regards,
alexander.

--
http://gng.z505.com/index.htm
(GNG is a derecursive recursive derecursion which pwns GNU since it can
be infinitely looped as GNGNGNGNG...NGNGNG... and can be said backwards
too, whereas GNU cannot.)