copyfraud
nounEtymology A compound of copy + fraud. Coined in an August 2005 article, "Copyfraud" http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=787244 by Jason Mazzone, an Associate Professor of Law at Brooklyn Law School.
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Law False claims of copyright, such as a claim of copyright ownership of public domain material.
- Copyfraud is falsely claiming copyright ownership of works in the public domain. […] Mazzone's article describes copyfraud within the context of US copyright law, but he points out that: ‘As a result of the Berne Convention, there are some basic similarities throughout much of the world.[’]2006, Mark Jordan, Putting Content Online: A Practical Guide for Libraries, →ISBN, pages 47, 48:
- The GPL and GPL FAQ don't say that applying a copyright and license (GPL) to Public Domain works after a trivial modification is copyfraud either, but it is.2008 January 25, Rod Pemberton, “Re: modernization of FORTH, Age Results”, in comp.lang.forth (Usenet):
1 more example
- Made possible because people trust in the veracity of something that at times is nothing more than a chimera, copyfraud is a particularly acute problem when exacerbated by public institutions like museums.2008, Eva Hemmungs Wirtén, “‘I am Two Mowglis’: Kipling, Disney, and a Lesson in How to Use (and Abuse) the Public Domain”, in Terms of Use: Negotiating the Jungle of the Intellectual Commons, →ISBN, page 105: