rsine@nswc-wo.arpa (Sine) (04/17/89)
Concerning the copyright discussion, Thad Floryan writes: >The EA software in question (the Deluxe Paint series) is clearly copyrighted >and protected by US Federal law. The last page of the DP-II manual states: > "SOFTWARE (c) 1986 ELECTRONIC ARTS" If the manual really states this, (and I doubt it), then Marco and anyone possessing the software being mentioned, can do as they please. This is because EA didn't follow the Copyright Form of Notice as defined in the publication "Copyright Basics Circular No. 1", which complies with the Copyright Act of 1976 which became effective January 1, 1978. The document states the following: The notice should contain the following three elements: 1. The Copyright symbol (the letter C in a circle), or the word "Copyright", or the abbreviation "Copr."; and 2. The year of first publication of the work.... 3. The name of the owner of copyright in the work... Notice that there is no mention of (C) or (c) and one could argue that the software is not Copyright material. The fact that you didn't know this (judged by your posting) makes me question the validity of any of your statements. By this I mean that you went into great detail making your points, but still left the (c) in the message unexplained. Back to the subject at hand, Section 106 of the Copyright Act generally gives the owner of the copyright the exclusive right to do and to authorize others to do the following: ... To distribute copies of the copyrighted work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending; ... My understanding of this is that unless the copyright states that the product can not be resold by the end user, then it can be. Further, I have relicensed software many times. I had a VMS machine that became a Unix machine. I called DEC and told them I wanted to transfer the license to another machine and another person (so they pay for the updates) and they said fine who's the other person, what's the serial numbers etc. >I'm simply attempting to clarify some (otherwise) obscure points of law as IMHO you've not clarified anything and have contributed to the confusion. Ran ARPA: rsine@nswc-wo
papa@pollux.usc.edu (Marco Papa) (04/17/89)
In article <13224@louie.udel.EDU> rsine@nswc-wo.arpa (Sine) writes: >Concerning the copyright discussion, Thad Floryan writes: >>The EA software in question (the Deluxe Paint series) is clearly copyrighted >>and protected by US Federal law. The last page of the DP-II manual states: >> "SOFTWARE (c) 1986 ELECTRONIC ARTS" >If the manual really states this, (and I doubt it), then Marco and anyone >possessing the software being mentioned, can do as they please. This is >because EA didn't follow the Copyright Form of Notice as defined in the >publication "Copyright Basics Circular No. 1", which complies with the >Copyright Act of 1976 which became effective January 1, 1978. >The notice should contain the following three elements: >1. The Copyright symbol (the letter C in a circle), or the word "Copyright", > or the abbreviation "Copr."; and ... >Notice that there is no mention of (C) or (c) and one could argue that ... Wait! Please give Thad a break!. EA DOES include the "C in a Circle" as properly requested by the Library of Congress. I would be surprised of the contrary, considering EA has been in the software business for so many years. Thad used the only mean that you can on ASCII terminals, which do not have the "C in a circle". The Amiga does have that character in the standard font, and many programs, A-Talk III included, use it in the menu bar, to make sure that not only the media an manual but also the "executable" shows the copyright notice. -- Marco Papa 'Doc' -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= uucp:...!pollux!papa BIX:papa ARPAnet:pollux!papa@oberon.usc.edu "There's Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Diga!" -- Leo Schwab [quoting Rick Unland] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
bob@jacobs.CS.ORST.EDU (robert s. richardson) (04/17/89)
In article <13224@louie.udel.EDU> rsine@nswc-wo.arpa (Sine) writes: >Concerning the copyright discussion, Thad Floryan writes: >>The EA software in question (the Deluxe Paint series) is clearly copyrighted >>and protected by US Federal law. The last page of the DP-II manual states: >> "SOFTWARE (c) 1986 ELECTRONIC ARTS" >Copyright Act of 1976 which became effective January 1, 1978. >The notice should contain the following three elements: >1. The Copyright symbol (the letter C in a circle), or the word "Copyright", > or the abbreviation "Copr."; and ... >Notice that there is no mention of (C) or (c) and one could argue that ... Sorry to burst your bubble, but the application for copyright form I use for my music specifies quite clearly that a (C), (c), and in the case of phonorecords (P), (p) is perfectly acceptable. This adoption of the parenthesis around a c has been used since the dawn of the typewriter. So PLEASE, don't try to justify an already tricky legal issue on the basis of typography. +---------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Bob Richardson (or, for you UNIX buffs: bob@jacobs.cs.orst.edu) | | 220 NW 21st, Corvallis, OR 97330 503-758-5018 "We Never Open" | +---------------------------------------------------------------------+ | PLEASE NOTE NEW NETWORK NAME ABOVE (was richarr@nikola). MAIL TO | | OLD ACCOUNT MAY NOT REACH ME. THANK YOU. | +---------------------------------------------------------------------+
papa@pollux.usc.edu (Marco Papa) (04/17/89)
In article <10021@orstcs.CS.ORST.EDU> bob@jacobs.CS.ORST.EDU.UUCP (robert s. richardson) writes: >In article <13224@louie.udel.EDU> rsine@nswc-wo.arpa (Sine) writes: >>Copyright Act of 1976 which became effective January 1, 1978. >>The notice should contain the following three elements: >>1. The Copyright symbol (the letter C in a circle), or the word "Copyright", >> or the abbreviation "Copr."; and ... >>Notice that there is no mention of (C) or (c) and one could argue that ... > >Sorry to burst your bubble, but the application for copyright form I use >for my music specifies quite clearly that a (C), (c), and in the case >of phonorecords (P), (p) is perfectly acceptable. This adoption of >the parenthesis around a c has been used since the dawn of the >typewriter. So PLEASE, don't try to justify an already tricky legal >issue on the basis of typography. Sorry to burst your bubble, dude, but this is a direct quote from "Circular R61 -- Copyright Registration for Computer Programs" which can be obtained from the Copyright Office - Library of Congress - Washington, D.C. 20559: FORM OF COPYRIGHT NOTICE The notice for visually perceptible copies should contain all of the following three elements: 1. The symbol <<non-ACSII symbol omitted>> (the letter C in a circle), or the word "Copyright" or the abbreviation "Copr." 2. The year of first publication of the work. 3. The name of the owner of copyright of the work. -- end of quote According to copyright law [ 17 USC, Section 401()b)], BOTH (c) and (C) are NOT acceptable symbols. If you want to read the entire details of the legalese involved in software copyright notices, please pick up a copy of "How to Copyright Software" by Attorney M.J. Salone, Legal Editor: Stephen Elias, by NOLO Press, 950 Parker St., Berkeley, CA 94710. Considering that one of the reasons Intel lost the case against NEC was because of the omission of a "proper" copyright notice, giving out "incorrect" information perpetuates "ignorance". The AMIGA is actually in better shape than other machines, because the topaz ROM font includes the copyright symbol, and therfore it is very easy to support the following requirement of Section 201.20(g), 37 C.F.R.: LOCATION OF COPYRIGHT NOTICE (g) WORKS REPRODUCED IN MACHINE-READABLE COPIES ... each of the following constitutes examples of acceptable methods of affixation and position of notice: .. (2) A notice that is displayed at the user's terminal at sign on; (3) A notice that is continuously on terminal display; or (4) a legible notice reproduced durably, ...securely affixed to the copies or to a box, reel, cartridge, cassette, or other container used as a permanent receptacle for the copies. -- end of quote Hopefully this item (which comes up as usual every couple of years or so on Usenet), can be put to rest quickly. -- Marco Papa 'Doc' -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= uucp:...!pollux!papa BIX:papa ARPAnet:pollux!papa@oberon.usc.edu "There's Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Diga!" -- Leo Schwab [quoting Rick Unland] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=