papa@pollux.usc.edu (Marco Papa) (02/21/88)
In article <16964@think.UUCP> barmar@fafnir.think.com.UUCP (Barry Margolin) writes: >In article <1771@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> amlovell@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Anthony M Lovell) writes: >>In article <2608@gryphon.CTS.COM>, richard@gryphon.CTS.COM (Richard Sexton) writes: >>> >>> This article (c) 1988 by Richard J. Sexton >>> This article copyrighted by Richard J. Sexton >>> This article Copyrighted (c) 1988 by Richard J. Sexton >>> None of these are valid copyrights. >> >>Inclusion of (c) symbol is satisfactory with a date and name. >>Middle one might not do, but other two certainly are legal copyright >>notices. Source : US form PA. > >I think you may have old information. I'm pretty sure that last year >"(c)" was declared invalid. Or, since you are quoting a US form, that Hopefully to finish up the dispute, this is lifted from Circular R1 -- Copyright Basics, published by the Copyright Office: "The notice for visually perceptible copies should contain the following three elements: * The symbol --unprintable-- (The letter C in a cirle) [this symbol is not ASCII so you can't se it here. MP], or the word "Copyright" or the abbreviation "Copr."; and * The year of first publication of the work. [...]; and * The name of the owner of copyright in the work. Example: Copyright 1981 John Doe The "C in a circle" notice is only required on visually perceptible copies." This and other publications are available for free from: Copyright Office Library of Congress Washington, DC 20559 -- Marco
john13@garfield.UUCP (John Russell) (02/22/88)
In article <7108@oberon.USC.EDU> papa@pollux.usc.edu (Marco Papa) writes: > >"The notice for visually perceptible copies should contain the following >three elements: > >* The symbol --unprintable-- (The letter C in a cirle) [this symbol is >not ASCII so you can't se it here. MP], or the word "Copyright" or the >abbreviation "Copr."; and > > [ year and name of author ] I wonder what the situation is where you might include a "c in a circle" character in an Amiga text file, and it gets changed somewhere along the line to a ')' by something which rejects hi-bit-set characters? Would you lose copyright protection? Is a text file (which after all is meant to be read) considered a "visually perceptible copy"? John -- "Fanaticism is all right... as long as you're ALONE! HAHAHAHA!" -- Pat Robertson shares a gem of wisdom told to him by Richard Nixon, and thus becomes the first politician to whom I can honestly apply the term "scares the willies out of me"
cosell@bbn.com (Bernie Cosell) (02/23/88)
In article <4509@garfield.UUCP> john13@garfield.UUCP (John Russell) writes: >In article <7108@oberon.USC.EDU> papa@pollux.usc.edu (Marco Papa) writes: >> >>"The notice for visually perceptible copies should contain the following >>three elements: >> >> [ "copr", year, and name of copyright holder(NOT necessarily author!) ] > >I wonder what the situation is where you might include a "c in a circle" >character in an Amiga text file, and it gets changed somewhere along the >line to a ')' by something which rejects hi-bit-set characters? > >Would you lose copyright protection? Is a text file (which after all is >meant to be read) considered a "visually perceptible copy"? No, you do not lose your protection. In fact, even if you put NO notice at all on the work you still retain your rights (at least in the US). The trick is that the closer you come to conforming with the statutes in the first place, the less hassle you'll have when you come to try to enforce your copyright later on. There is also a provision on the other side such that innocent infringers on your copyright _may_ not be sueable for violations occurring before you patched things up (although this depends on a bunch of stuff, not the least of which is who can afford the most expensive lawyers). In this context, it means that (a) the sales you lose before you notice the absence of your copyright notice are lost; (b) once you notify the after-publishers they have to stop the infringing activities (jsut as if it were properly copyrighted in the first place); and (c) presuming that they DO stop, then you cannot take any legal action for things they did before they can be presumed to know ofyour copyright. Maybe this should be moved to misc.legal? __ / ) Bernie Cosell /--< _ __ __ o _ BBN Labs, Cambridge, MA 02238 /___/_(<_/ (_/) )_(_(<_ cosell@bbn.com
flaig@cit-vlsi.Caltech.Edu (Charles M. Flaig) (02/23/88)
In article <7108@oberon.USC.EDU> papa@pollux.usc.edu (Marco Papa) writes: > >"The notice for visually perceptible copies should contain the following >three elements: > >* The symbol --unprintable-- (The letter C in a cirle) [this symbol is >not ASCII so you can't se it here. MP], or the word "Copyright" or the >abbreviation "Copr."; and Since the "letter C in a circle" is unprintable in ASCII, is a C within parentheses, (C), a valid substitute? I know I have seen this used, and the parentheses form most of a circle (like a bad copy :-). --Charles Flaig flaig@csvax.caltech.edu
pdb@sei.cmu.edu (Patrick Barron) (02/23/88)
In article <5523@cit-vax.Caltech.Edu> flaig@cit-vlsi.UUCP (Charles M. Flaig) writes: >Since the "letter C in a circle" is unprintable in ASCII, is a C within >parentheses, (C), a valid substitute? I know I have seen this used, and >the parentheses form most of a circle (like a bad copy :-). It's been said before, but... Using the symbol (C) (i.e., the C in parentheses) gives you NO legal protection, and a copyright notice like "(C) 1988 Patrick Barron" is not a legal copyright notice. Better to simply spell out the word "Copyright", and include the phrase "All Rights Reserved" for purposes of international copyright protection. It's been said that unless you really have the C-in-a-circle symbol, you don't have full protection, but I don't know the whole scoop there. This is starting to stray pretty far from the topic at hand. Followups redirected to misc.legal. --Pat.
schein@cbmvax.UUCP (Dan Schein CATS) (02/23/88)
In article <4509@garfield.UUCP> john13@garfield.UUCP (John Russell) writes: >In article <7108@oberon.USC.EDU> papa@pollux.usc.edu (Marco Papa) writes: >> >>"The notice for visually perceptible copies should contain the following >>three elements: >> >>* The symbol --unprintable-- (The letter C in a cirle) [this symbol is >>not ASCII so you can't se it here. MP], or the word "Copyright" or the >>abbreviation "Copr."; and >> >> [ year and name of author ] > >I wonder what the situation is where you might include a "c in a circle" >character in an Amiga text file, and it gets changed somewhere along the >line to a ')' by something which rejects hi-bit-set characters? > >Would you lose copyright protection? Is a text file (which after all is >meant to be read) considered a "visually perceptible copy"? > >John This is more a FYI message than anything.... Some users (like ME :-) do not use the CBM supplied font(s). This means that the Copyright symbol (ALT E) is not represented as a "C" inside a circle. So remember that just because you see the copyright symbol on YOUR Amiga's screen, it may not look the same on other Amiga's. -- Dan Schein uucp: {ihnp4|allegra|burdvax|rutgers}!cbmvax!schein Commodore AMIGA ARPANET: cbmvax!schein@uunet.uu.net 1200 Wilson Drive Bix: dschein Plink: Dan*CATS West Chester PA 19380 phone: (215) 431-9100 ext. 9542 +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ All spelling mistakes are a result of my efforts to avoid education :-) +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ I help Commodore by supporting the AMIGA. Commodore supports me by allowing me to form my own suggestions and comments.
rjg@sialis.mn.org (Robert J. Granvin) (02/24/88)
>Since the "letter C in a circle" is unprintable in ASCII, is a C within >parentheses, (C), a valid substitute? I know I have seen this used, and >the parentheses form most of a circle (like a bad copy :-). No. It is not a valid substitute. No copyright office in the world recognizes the (c) symbol as a replacement for the 'official' copyright symbol. -- Robert J. Granvin UNIVERSE: rjg@sialis.mn.org Programmer Analyst EARTH: ...uunet!{amdahl,hpda}!bungia!sialis!rjg