Re: public domain to GPL?

[amicus_curious]

"Jerry" <story.jerry@gmail.com> wrote in message 
38ac9b16-2bc3-402c-be06-bee698c452b2@z66g2000hsc.googlegroups.com">news:38ac9b16-2bc3-402c-be06-bee698c452b2@z66g2000hsc.googlegroups.com...

> It seems, according to the author of the above quote, that it is
> possible to modify a public domain program and  copyright the modified
> version as a whole.  (If that is true, then I figure maybe I can GPL a
> modified version of a public domain program.)

The author is concerned that someone some day may want to proprietize their 
work.  You cannot assert a copyright for a public domain or any other 
program that you didn't produce. You can assert a copyright on the work as a 
whole where you have made some unique changes to the original expression, 
but you have to register it first.  If what you change is trivial, you are 
not going to win anything worthwhile in court.