> PD means you can literally do anything with it 
> -- the author retains NO rights

That is not strictly true. Anything readable that is published is
covered by a copyright. The author can grant free use of his copyrighted
material to everyone, but he still holds the copyright (otherwise he
would not be able to grant any rights to everyone!)

> You can't turn PD work into something proprietary...
AFAIK you can. You create a derived work, which is automatically
copyrighted by you. If you owe nothing to the original author you
affectively have the full copyright, including the right to keep 

> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_domain :

I don't think that article states what you stated. And anyway, a wiki is
not the ultimate truth. It is just something written my someone.

> Stating that the GPL is "viral" is sending a bad message:

So what? It is still true.

Wouter van Ooijen

-- -------------------------------------------
Van Ooijen Technische Informatica: www.voti.nl
consultancy, development, PICmicro products
docent Hogeschool van Utrecht: www.voti.nl/hvu
 

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