dxp@pyuxhh.UUCP (D Peak) (11/06/84)
-->This exam is commercially available in poster form. It was
-->cribbed for the net and printed (apparently) without permission.
-->DON'T DO THAT!
-->
--> - Toby Robison (not Robinson!)
-->
Here we go again ! Half assed opinions based on assumptions !
HOW ABOUT POSTING SOME FACTS TO BACK UP YOUR OPINIONS ???????????
Here are some guidelines to determine if something is in the public domain or
if it is protected by copywright.
Is the work anonymous ?
1) If so it is highly unlikely that the work is copywrighted as copywright
is the process of protecting an authors property(the work).
2) If the author is quoted
i) Is the work a published work ?
a) If yes the work MUST observe ALL strict formal copywright procedures
for it to be afforded legal protection.Copywright is effective for
28 years from publication. An extension of another 28 years can be
applied for.
b) If not the work is afforded "common law" protection whereby others
cannot use the work for their own profit.
I presume the reasoning behind this is that if the author publishes a
work he intends to seek financial gain from the work. If he decides
not to publish then the author does not seek financial reward for his
work but prevents others profitting from his/her labours.
This is basically how copywrighting works in the USA, all other countries are
satisfied with "common law" protection. Extra complications arise where a work
is first published outside the US and later published in the US. More info
available in any reasonably competent encyclopedia.
A copywrighted article/poster/book can be identified by a capital c in a cicle,
with the authors name and date of publication next to it(add 28 to see if it is
still copywrighted).A Library of Congress number may or may not be present.
I've seen several posters of dubious copywright authenticity due to the lack of
one or more items , noticably the date (then you wouldn't know when it expired
would you ).
Back to "The Comprehensive Exam" article, I first saw this in England back in
1972 entitled "The Consultants Exam" ,(incidentally no author mentioned) when
my father saw it he told me that it was "old hat" and that he had seen it in
similar format when he was in the army in the late '40s and was entitled
"The Officer Cadet Exam".
So it looks like this this particular work has been around for a while, it may
or may not have been copywrighted by someone ,somewhere ,sometime but it is
probably not so now. But be CAREFUL !!!!!!!!!
--
Dave Peak (pyuxhh!dxp)
"He's a legend in his own mind"ndiamond@watdaisy.UUCP (Norman Diamond) (11/07/84)
One moderately important and one unimportant (:-)) correction are called for:
1) Many countries do in fact have similar copyright laws. The exceptions
are mainly developing countries in the Orient, where books copyrighted
in a "first world" country are re-published without payment of royalties
etc. You do not want to be caught importing such re-publications.
2) It isn't clear whether it's Orville or Wilbur who has the copywright;
probably neither would appreciate being copied.dee@cca.UUCP (Donald Eastlake) (11/13/84)
Dear Mr. Peak,
You message is not very accurate in reagard to the old US
copyright statute. For example, a C in a circle is certainly not
required. Within the US "Copyright" and "Copr." work just as well.
It is just that a circled C is the universally accepted copyright
mark in all contries signatory to the Universal Copyright Union
that require a mark (many countries require no mark and everything
is copyright unless otherwise indicated).
As regard the new US copyright statue, you are so far off
the mark with regards to length of protection, requirements, etc.,
that its not worth going into.
--
+ Donald E. Eastlake, III
ARPA: dee@CCA-UNIX usenet: {decvax,linus}!cca!dee