Should I change the name in the WTFPL?

Question

I'm using the WTFPL in my personal projects published on GitHub.

Currently I'm using it verbatim, but I have the suspicion I shouldn't be leaving

Copyright (C) 2004 Sam Hocevar <sam@hocevar.net> 

in there, and instead should use my name.

But the license is very confusing about this. Half of the WTFPL is about the WTFPL itself, so I thought that copyright might refer to a copyright on the license text itself, and not on the project this is licensing. Also, it says

Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim or modified copies of this license document, and changing it is allowed as long as the name is changed.

So would I have to change the name, from WTFPL to, say, "WTFPL-Domenic"?

Answer 1

yes, by the terms of that copyright, you must change the name of the project / code that you are now providing.

You may feel free to acknowledge Sam Hocevar's contribution, but you may no longer attribute anything to him per the terms of the WTFPL.

OTOH, you'll never get sued over it, so slap your copyright statement on there after Sam's and move on. WTFPL is essentially saying "this is completely free, do whatever you want" which negates any actual claim to copyright.

If you release your work under WTFPL, then you can get rid of all of the copyright statements. By that licensing agreement, you're giving up all rights to it.

Us old folk would just call it "public domain" and be done with it.

Answer 2

You can put your name there.

Sam Hocevar would say "do the fuck you want. isn't it clear enough?"