Permanently relinquishing your rights isn't an easy as it sounds: Copyright is ubiquitous and not really possible to get rid of on a worldwide basis. A challenge is that you don't get one single copyright but many different copyrights from various countries around the world. Even if some areas of the world somehow lets you permanently relinquish your rights that only takes care of those rights in those areas. Unfortunately, not all areas of the world let you do this.
To address this the WPDD first acts as a waiver of rights (sections 2 and 4) and then a license fallback for when that doesn't work (sections 3 and 5.)
What follows is Discussion Draft #2. To learn about changes from Discussion Draft #1 please check GitWeb and the mailing list. All participation is welcome.
==== THIS IS A DRAFT. DO NOT USE AS A LICENSE. ====
Worldwide Public Domain Dedication (WPDD)
Public Discussion Draft #2
Please send feedback by email to the public mailing list:
https://wpdd.info/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss
Copying and distribution of this file, with or without modification,
are permitted in any medium without royalty, provided this notice is
preserved. To avoid potential confusion, if you make modifications
please don't call your version the Worldwide Public Domain Dedication
(WPDD) or anything else that might be confusingly similar. This file
is offered as-is, without any warranty.
Statement of Purpose
The laws of most jurisdictions throughout the world automatically
confer exclusive Copyright and Related Rights (defined below) upon the
copyright holder(s) (each and all, a "holder") of an original work of
authorship and/or a database (each, a "Work").
Certain holders wish to permanently relinquish those rights to a Work
for the purpose of contributing to a commons of creative, cultural
and scientific works ("Commons") that the public can reliably and
without fear of later claims of infringement build upon, modify,
incorporate in other works, reuse and redistribute as freely as
possible in any form whatsoever and for any purposes, including
without limitation commercial purposes. These holders may contribute
to the Commons to promote the ideal of a free culture and the further
production of creative, cultural and scientific works, or to gain
reputation or greater distribution for their Work in part through the
use and efforts of others.
For these and/or other purposes and motivations, and without any
expectation of additional consideration or compensation, the person or
organization associating this Worldwide Public Domain Dedication with
a Work (the "Affirmer"), to the extent that they are a holder of
Copyright and Related Rights in the Work, voluntarily elects to apply
this Worldwide Public Domain Dedication to the Work and publicly
distribute the Work under its terms, with knowledge of their Copyright
and Related Rights in the Work and the meaning and intended legal
effect of this Worldwide Public Domain Dedication on those rights.
1. Copyright and Related Rights. A Work made available under this
Worldwide Public Domain Dedication may be protected by copyright and
related or neighboring rights ("Copyright and Related Rights").
Copyright and Related Rights include, but are not limited to, the
following:
i. the right to reproduce, adapt, distribute, perform, display,
communicate, and translate a Work;
ii. moral rights retained by the original author(s) and/or
performer(s);
iii. publicity and privacy rights pertaining to a person's image or
likeness depicted in a Work;
iv. rights protecting the extraction, dissemination, use and reuse
of data in a Work;
v. database rights (such as those arising under Directive 96/9/EC
of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 1996
on the legal protection of databases, and under any national
implementation thereof, including any amended or successor
version of such directive);
vi. other similar, equivalent or corresponding rights throughout
the world based on applicable law or treaty, and any national
implementations thereof.
2. Waiver. To the greatest extent permitted by, but not in
contravention of, applicable law, Affirmer hereby overtly, fully,
permanently, irrevocably and unconditionally waives, abandons, and
surrenders all of Affirmer's Copyright and Related Rights and
associated claims and causes of action, whether now known or unknown
(including existing as well as future claims and causes of action),
in the Work (i) in all territories worldwide, (ii) for the maximum
duration provided by applicable law or treaty (including future time
extensions), (iii) in any current or future medium and for any number
of copies, and (iv) for any purpose whatsoever, including without
limitation commercial, advertising or promotional purposes (the
"Waiver"). Affirmer makes the Waiver for the benefit of each member
of the public at large and to the detriment of Affirmer's heirs and
successors, fully intending that such Waiver shall not be subject to
revocation, rescission, cancellation, termination, or any other legal
or equitable action to disrupt the quiet enjoyment of the Work by the
public as contemplated by Affirmer's express Statement of Purpose.
3. Public License Fallback. Should any part of the Waiver for any
reason be judged legally invalid or ineffective under applicable law,
then the Waiver shall be preserved to the maximum extent permitted
taking into account Affirmer's express Statement of Purpose. In
addition, to the extent the Waiver is so judged Affirmer hereby
grants to each affected person a royalty-free, non transferable, non
sublicensable, non exclusive, irrevocable and unconditional license
to exercise Affirmer's Copyright and Related Rights in the Work (i)
in all territories worldwide, (ii) for the maximum duration provided
by applicable law or treaty (including future time extensions), (iii)
in any current or future medium and for any number of copies, and
(iv) for any purpose whatsoever, including without limitation
commercial, advertising or promotional purposes (the "License"). The
License shall be deemed effective as of the date this Worldwide
Public Domain Dedication was applied by Affirmer to the Work. Should
any part of the License for any reason be judged legally invalid or
ineffective under applicable law, such partial invalidity or
ineffectiveness shall not invalidate the remainder of the License,
and in such case Affirmer hereby affirms that they will not (i)
exercise any of their remaining Copyright and Related Rights in the
Work or (ii) assert any associated claims and causes of action with
respect to the Work, in either case contrary to Affirmer's express
Statement of Purpose.
4. Waiver of Patent Rights. Notwithstanding the provisions of section
2, Affirmer acknowledges that the design codes, utility, technical
figures, charts, methods, processes, and all information related to
the patent/invention arising out of the Work, the sources, source
codes, objects, object codes and all system documentation relating
thereto shall not be confidential and shall be non-proprietary for
the public worldwide. To the greatest extent permitted by, but not in
contravention of, applicable law, Affirmer hereby overtly, fully,
permanently, irrevocably and unconditionally waives, abandons, and
surrenders all of Affirmer's patent rights and associated claims and
causes of action, whether now known or unknown (including existing as
well as future claims and causes of action) throughout the world,
whether arising under federal law, state law, common law, foreign
law, or otherwise, for any patent/invention included by Affirmer in
the Work that are licensable by the Affirmer, both currently owned or
controlled and acquired or controlled in the future (the "Waiver of
Patent Rights"). The Waiver of Patent Rights shall not be subject to
revocation, rescission, cancellation, termination, or any other legal
or equitable action to disrupt the quiet enjoyment of the Work by the
public as contemplated by Affirmer's express Statement of Purpose.
5. Patent Grant Fallback. Should any part of the Waiver of Patent
Rights for any reason be judged legally invalid or ineffective under
applicable law, then the Waiver of Patent Rights shall be preserved
to the maximum extent permitted taking into account Affirmer's
express Statement of Purpose. In addition, to the extent the Waiver
of Patent Rights is so judged Affirmer hereby grants to each affected
person a royalty-free, non transferable, non sublicensable, non
exclusive, irrevocable and unconditional license to Affirmer's patent
rights, where such license applies only to those patents/inventions
included by Affirmer in the Work that are licensable by Affirmer,
both currently owned or controlled and acquired or controlled in the
future, that are necessarily infringed by making, having made, using,
selling, offering for sale, importing or transferring the Work, or
otherwise practicing any method or procedure in any patent/invention
included by Affirmer in the Work, in whole or in part, alone or in
combination with or included in any other Work (i) in all territories
worldwide, (ii) for the maximum duration provided by applicable law
or treaty (including future time extensions), (iii) in any current or
future medium and for any number of copies, and (iv) for any purpose
whatsoever, including without limitation commercial, advertising or
promotional purposes (the "Patent License"). The Patent License shall
be deemed effective as of the date this Worldwide Public Domain
Dedication was applied by Affirmer to the Work. Should any part of
the Patent License for any reason be judged legally invalid or
ineffective under applicable law, such partial invalidity or
ineffectiveness shall not invalidate the remainder of the Patent
License, and in such case Affirmer hereby affirms that they will not
(i) exercise any of their patent rights in the Work or (ii) assert
any associated claims and causes of action with respect to the Work,
in either case contrary to Affirmer's express Statement of Purpose.
6. Versions. New versions of the Worldwide Public Domain Dedication
(WPDD) may be released via https://wpdd.info in order to address
issues or concerns that come up. Such new versions shall remain
similar in spirit to provide, as closely as possible, a total waiver
of all rights. Any person or organization receiving a Work covered
by this version of the WPDD may elect to apply any later version of
the WPDD to that Work.
7. Limitations and Disclaimers.
a. Affirmer offers the Work as-is and makes no representations or
warranties of any kind concerning the Work, express, implied,
statutory or otherwise, including without limitation warranties
of title, merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non
infringement, or the absence of latent or other defects,
accuracy, or the presence or absence of errors, whether or not
discoverable, all to the greatest extent permissible under
applicable law.
b. Affirmer disclaims responsibility for clearing rights of other
persons that may apply to the Work or any use thereof, including
without limitation any person's Copyright and Related Rights in
the Work. Further, Affirmer disclaims responsibility for
obtaining any necessary consents, permissions or other rights
required for any use of the Work.