[comp.sys.apple] Copyright and Usenet

Tabakal@UB.CC.UMICH.EDU (01/18/90)

To Andy (and others),
 
If your lawyer told you that you would lose your copyright for posting
Shrinkit, then it's time to get a new lawyer.  Distribution is an
exclusive right of the copyright claimant unless ceded by assignment or
contract.  As an example, the various airport cults distribute
thousands of pamphlets daily.  Yet, they do not yield their copyrights.
Placing a program in the public domain is a conscious act.  It cannot
be completed merely by publication.
 
Any lawyer who gave this advice is probably a technophobe and should
certainly do minimal research to update his/her understanding of 
current trends in software copyright.
 
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    Todd A. Bakal                              I believe in the Cubs,
    U of M Apple User's Group                  Bo's national championship
    Ann Arbor, Michigan                        chances, and my Apple ][gs. 
 
    Internet: Tabakal@ub.cc.umich.edu          FTP: 35.1.1.43
    UUCP: ...!uunet!ub.cc.umich.edu!tabakal    BITnet: Tabakal@UMICHUB