[17:09] <dzho> so copyright arises by default, and must be granted (to distill things down quite a lot for the sake of brevity and clarity"
[17:09] <dzho> patent on the other hand is *not* automatic. so, there need be no explicit grant.
[17:10] <dzho> what's more, putting something into public view can very well establish it as prior art, thus invalidating any later attempt to patent it.
[17:10] <dzho> so, a declaration that something is in the public domain may be sufficient, I think, is the idea.
[17:10] <dzho> but yeah IANAL just a nerd about this.
[17:11] <dzho> this all got a lot simpler, in principle, when the US harmonized its patent regime with the rest of the world, moving from "first to invent" to "first to file"
[17:12] <dzho> I think there is a sort of grace period after publishing details of any putative invention in which one can file for the patent
[19:33] <dzho> "must be granted" by the holder, to a third party
[19:33] <dzho> in order for that third party to use it legitimately in the eyes of the copyright regime
[19:34] <dzho> a would-be patent holder has to ask to get a patent in the first place, and so maybe doesn't even have anything *specific* to grant!