Does releasing a work into the public domain disclaim any warrants?
<p>My understanding is that the releasing statement assigns "ownership" of the work to the public at large. But obviously one could not sue "the public" if (say) PD software crashed due to a defect and cost one's business a day's salary of a software engineer to clean it up.</p>

<p>So does releasing a work into the public domain disclaim any liability? And if not, why not?</p>

<p>"Merchantability" is only a concept that has meaning if you sell something. If you give something away you make no warranty as to its quality.</p>

liability public-domain