Here in Germany (and other countries) we do have a public domain ("gemeinfrei", "gemeinfreie Werke"), but it contains only works whose authors died at least 70 years ago. It is impossible for a living person to actively put their work into the public domain.
However, this is not as bureaucratic as it may sound. You can still sign off any exploitation rights ("Verwertungsrechte")! But there are other rights you cannot sign off, the author's moral rights ("Urheberpersönlichkeitsrechte").
In general, there are two flavours of copyright law in the world:
1) The copyright which centers around the act of copying or doing other things with the creative work. This is found in the USA and Great Britain.
2) The author's rights ("Urheberrecht", "droit d'auteur") which centers around the creators. This is found in Germany and France.
Comments
In some countries there isn't a legal concept of public domain. I don't know much more than that but I think Germany may be one of them.
Yes and no.
Here in Germany (and other countries) we do have a public domain ("gemeinfrei", "gemeinfreie Werke"), but it contains only works whose authors died at least 70 years ago. It is impossible for a living person to actively put their work into the public domain.
However, this is not as bureaucratic as it may sound. You can still sign off any exploitation rights ("Verwertungsrechte")! But there are other rights you cannot sign off, the author's moral rights ("Urheberpersönlichkeitsrechte").
In general, there are two flavours of copyright law in the world:
1) The copyright which centers around the act of copying or doing other things with the creative work. This is found in the USA and Great Britain.
2) The author's rights ("Urheberrecht", "droit d'auteur") which centers around the creators. This is found in Germany and France.