sean@ms.uky.edu (Sean Casey) (08/16/87)
At the beginning of POE.DOC: - ProComm Outside Environment - POE 1.0.0 - July 22nd, 1987 - > Copyright (c) 1987 by Mark Herring > Donated to the Public Domain Note the lines with the arrows. People can write marvelous software, but they can't tell the difference between a Copyright and Public Domain. Someone should call him up and tell him that he invalidates his own Copyright. If you don't know, Copyright means you control the right to copy. Public Domain means that you have relinquished all exclusive rights to it. -- -- Sean Casey sean@ms.uky.edu, {uunet,cbosgd}!ukma!sean -- (the Empire guy) sean@ms.uky.csnet, sean@UKMA.BITNET -- "I...am a shrubber..." -- The Shrubber
guest@vu-vlsi.UUCP (visitors) (08/17/87)
In article <7108@g.ms.uky.edu> sean@ms.uky.edu (Sean Casey) writes: > >At the beginning of POE.DOC: > > >- ProComm Outside Environment >- POE 1.0.0 >- July 22nd, 1987 >- >> Copyright (c) 1987 by Mark Herring >> Donated to the Public Domain > > >Note the lines with the arrows. People can write marvelous software, >but they can't tell the difference between a Copyright and Public >Domain. Someone should call him up and tell him that he invalidates >his own Copyright. > >If you don't know, Copyright means you control the right to copy. >Public Domain means that you have relinquished all exclusive rights >to it. What we have here is not necessarily a invalidation of his copyright. If the author further explains (he may have done this, I do not have a copy of the whole file) something to the effect that the program may be freely copied in its unaltered form, for non-profit use, etc. the author is still the only person allowed to legally sell it for profit and prosecute those parties that otherwise violate the copyright. Meanwhile, people can still legally copy and distribute this program for non profit use to their heart's desire. ----Mark ============================================================================== | Mark Schaffer | BITNET: 164485913@vuvaxcom | | Villanova University | UUCP: ...{ihnp4!psuvax1,burdvax,cbmvax,pyrnj,bpa} | | (Go Wildcats!) | !vu-vlsi!excalibur!164485913 | ============================================================================== please respond/reply to the above addresses and not to guest@vu-vlsi.UUCP
sean@ms.uky.edu (Sean Casey) (08/18/87)
In article <1062@vu-vlsi.UUCP> 164485913@excalibur.UUCP (Mark Schaffer) writes: >What we have here is not necessarily a invalidation of his copyright. >If the author further explains (he may have done this, I do not have a >copy of the whole file) Perhaps I should have included more. He goes on to state even further how he is giving the program away etc etc. I think his intention was allow redistribution and still retain rights. There is a very good document distributed with the 2.11 news software (newsdir/doc/copyright.mn) written by Jordan Breslow, a copyright law attorney. Anyone who writes software should read this document. Sean -- -- Sean Casey sean@ms.uky.edu, {uunet,cbosgd}!ukma!sean -- (the Empire guy) sean@ms.uky.csnet, sean@UKMA.BITNET -- "I...am a shrubber..." -- The Shrubber
crs@cpsc6b.cpsc6a.att.com (C. R. Seaman) (08/20/87)
In article <1062@vu-vlsi.UUCP>, guest@vu-vlsi.UUCP (visitors) writes: <In article <7108@g.ms.uky.edu> sean@ms.uky.edu (Sean Casey) writes: <> <>> Copyright (c) 1987 by Mark Herring <>> Donated to the Public Domain <> <>If you don't know, Copyright means you control the right to copy. <>Public Domain means that you have relinquished all exclusive rights <>to it. < <What we have here is not necessarily a invalidation of his copyright. <If the author further explains (he may have done this, I do not have a <copy of the whole file) something to the effect that the program may be <freely copied in its unaltered form, for non-profit use, etc. the author <is still the only person allowed to legally sell it for profit... I hate to disagree, but once software has been released into the public domain, there are **NO** legal ramifications regarding its use or misuse. That includes making as much profit as any user wants. No matter what else I may state in a document or source code file, if I state that the item is being released into the "Public Domain", it nullifies all other statements. The concept described above (by the last poster) is commonly known as "Shareware", which always makes the statement "This software is not in the public domain". As the first poster said, the author of the mentioned document has invalidated his own copyright. -- Chris Seaman | o\ /o crs@cpsc6a.att.com <or> | || See "Attack of the Killer Smiley"! ..!ihnp4!cpsc6a!crs | \vvvvvv/ Coming Soon to a newsgroup near you! | \____/