Post #1812812
2025-12-20 15:03 UTC
Has any software ever entered the public domain through copyright expiration? I think software at least 70 years old (125 years for corporate created) when its copyright expires prevents it from being any benefit at all.
Replies (2)
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@Mondez@lemdro.id 2025-12-20 15:40
Worse, unless you have the source code to that 70 year old software it's probably even less useful.
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@gwl@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2025-12-20 15:21
Software in general is actually very hard to copyright, as you cannot legally copyright code, the most you're allowed to do is patent the process the code is doing. More often the copyright applies to everything else, like the brand, and the UI