Some government employee made the “new logo” in the 90s for NCSA software (the Common Gateway Interface), and government work is public domain.
Just more evidence that big brother shall releaseth thee work and soul /s
I found the whole copyright thing at Wikipedia for this image pretty funny.
Even the simplest research shows that NCSA is a state-funded agency (through the University of Illinois system), not federal. If that image is in the public domain, it's not for the reason Wikipedia lists.
It operates as part of the U of I system and receives most funding from the National Science Foundation, a federal agency.
It did get a lot of funding from the NSF in the early days, but the federal government didn't start pushing for public access to research done through grants and contracts until 2013. Before then it was only work done by federal agencies that was non copyrighted.
The National Science Foundation also didn't start funding Mosaic until 1994, which was after CGI had been released.
NCSA gets a lot of its funding from the private sector with partner programs, the University of Illinois, and the State of Illinois as well.
You don’t have to release something to have it be public domain. The NCSA is a state-federal partnership, to which the law about government non-copyright applies.
I'm not sure where you're getting your information.
I work there, have worked there for nearly three decades, and I can tell you that it's not the case.
(Also, it's just NCSA for trademark reasons, without 'the' in front)