[Talk-us] confirming public domain data

[PJ Houser]

 I am working with Metro, the regional agency for the Portland, Oregon area.
We are using data provided by Metro (the database is called RLIS) to update
OSM. Metro is fine with us using its data, but I want them to put it in
writing to prevent any future kerfuffles. Metro posts the data we're using
on the CivicApps website - http://civicapps.org/datasets (data policy -
http://civicapps.org/about/data-policy). Is this sufficient proof of public
domain? If not, what type of letter or memo should I ask them to sign?

Like...

"I, the undersigned, as a representative of Metro, confirm that the
such-and-such data file is in the public domain"

And if it's in the public domain, does that make the data ok for both the
previous OSM license and the upcoming one?

I tried reading the wiki for help, but the intricacies of the licenses are
confusing, so I wanted to ask the community.

Thanks for your help.
--
PJ Houser
Trimet
GIS intern, 503-962-5711 (office)
user: PJ Houser
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/talk-us/attachments/20110406/90f1919f/attachment.html>