PCA " Green Serpent"

[Kantomaster1111]

What do you mean the public domain in the US doesn't exist? Yes it does!

[vincent_richter]

Originally Posted by Kantomaster1111

What do you mean the public domain in the US doesn't exist? Yes it does!

Not for newly-created works without a licence, created anytime after 1922.
You may thank Senator Bono for part of that.

Of course, were the Federal Department of Crankbait to make this, it would instantly fall into public domain.
Sadly, "public domain by declaration" and "public domain by abandonment" are roughly equivalent to parking on the courthouse lawn, then telling the judge "I can park wherever the hell I like" and "it's not my car, it must be a derelict," respectively. Neither one will protect you from a potentially vengeful plaintiff who might otherwise have no legitimate claim to the material in question.

http://imslp.org/wiki/IMSLP:Copyright_Made_Simple

So, what licence do these works fall under - or are we to assume that the caretaker's interests are the only one's that will ever be represented (which I find highly improbable)?

EDIT: This can all be resolved quite simply.
http://labnol.blogspot.com/2006/12/d...-creative.html
By licensing under the standard Creative Commons, No Rights Reserved, one gets the equivalent effect to the legally-defunct method of releasing works into the public domain.

As an added bonus, if someone wishes to be credited as the originator of a work, a simple CC-BY serves as a notice that they should be credited as such in derivative works.

The downside, of course, is identical to Public Domain: once the genie is released, it cannot be returned to its bottle. CC is irrevocable in perpetuity.