Although the TOS as it currently stands circumscribes our ability to use a program such as copybot to copy other people's things without permission, which renders moot the issue of whether one could do it legally in the real world or not, I still want to consider some of the exceptions you brought up, and whether they could be a significant factor in
SL; and thus a possible reason to get rid of the copy permissions box.
Starting with "in the public domain."
Well, nothing done in
SL is going to be in the public domain (unless the creator declares it so), and won't be for a long, long time.
One thing to remember is that you do not have to register for a copyright in order to have the work considered yours. I knew this as a writer, but I looked it up anyway, in order to pin down the date better:
"After March 1, 1989, an author's copyright in a work begins when it is fixed in a tangible form; neither publication nor registration is required, and a lack of a copyright notice does not place the work into the public domain."
(I think that's from
Copyright Term and the Public Domain in the United States
but I'm not sure I copied the source right for that one.)
The period of time required to elapse before an item comes into the public domain has been consistently extended in the U.S., culminating with the Sonny Bono legislation, or the so-called "Mickey Mouse law," as I recall, because it prevented Disney's mouse and other works from coming into the public domain, as they were about to.
(Which irritated me no end, because I'd waited ages for a different work to come into public domain so I could write a sequel, which was ALMOST there, and that put the kibosh on that.)
Anyway, currently, the rule is:
Created 1-1-78 or after: When work is fixed in tangible medium of expression - Life + 70 years
Copyright Term and the Public Domain in the United States
Works published before 1923 are in the public domain, these sources say.
So no work created in
SL could possibly be in the public domain yet, and could in no way be in the public domain for at least 70 years (assuming its creator already died right away).
More details:
As a general rule, most works enter the public domain because of old age. This includes any work published in the United States before 1923. Another large block of works are in the public domain because they were published before 1964 and copyright was not renewed. (Renewal was a requirement for works published before 1978.) A smaller group of works fell into the public domain because they were published without copyright notice (copyright notice was necessary for works published in the United States before March 1, 1989). Some works are in the public domain because the owner has indicated a desire to give them to the public without copyright protection. The rules establishing the public domain status for each of these types of works are different and more details are provided throughout this chapter.
Stanford Copyright & Fair Use - The Public Domain
So, the idea of the permissions system in
SL possibly obstructing an individual's right to works in the public domain is a non-starter, and should remain so for at least the next 65-70 years. As I understand it.
coco