djm@mordor.eng.umd.edu (David J. MacKenzie) (10/16/89)
I just got from an archive a two-part posting by ast of 5 Oct 1988 containing the source code to a Minix shell. There's no copyright message on it; can I assume that means it's in the public domain, and not covered by the Prentice-Hall restrictions? -- David J. MacKenzie <djm@wam.umd.edu>
ast@cs.vu.nl (Andy Tanenbaum) (10/16/89)
In article <8910160448.AA06026@mordor.eng.umd.edu> djm@mordor.eng.umd.edu (David J. MacKenzie) writes: > >I just got from an archive a two-part posting by ast of 5 Oct 1988 >containing the source code to a Minix shell. There's no copyright >message on it; can I assume that means it's in the public domain, and >not covered by the Prentice-Hall restrictions? The shell was written by Charles Forsyth at the University of York in England. England (unlike the U.S.) is a signatory to the Berne Convention, which means that the author of any work, including software, gets automatic copyright to the work when it is created. No notice is required. That also applies to work generated by me in Holland. Thus as to the shell, P-H claims an anthology copyright on the whole package, but Forsyth has the copyright on the shell itself. What he does with it is up to him. I didn't have the impression that he was planning to do anything with it, and don't think he objected to other people using it, but you'd have to check with him (forsyth@minster.york.ac.uk). Andy Tanenbaum (ast@cs.vu.nl)
henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) (10/17/89)
In article <3725@ast.cs.vu.nl> ast@cs.vu.nl (Andy Tanenbaum) writes: >... England (unlike the U.S.) is a signatory to the Berne Convention, >which means that the author of any work, including software, gets >automatic copyright to the work when it is created. No notice is required. The US *is* now a signatory to the Berne Convention, actually. -- A bit of tolerance is worth a | Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology megabyte of flaming. | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu
dal@syntel.mn.org (Dale Schumacher) (10/17/89)
In article <3725@ast.cs.vu.nl> ast@cs.vu.nl (Andy Tanenbaum) writes: >In article <8910160448.AA06026@mordor.eng.umd.edu> djm@mordor.eng.umd.edu (David J. MacKenzie) writes: >> >>I just got from an archive a two-part posting by ast of 5 Oct 1988 >>containing the source code to a Minix shell. There's no copyright >>message on it; can I assume that means it's in the public domain, and >>not covered by the Prentice-Hall restrictions? > >The shell was written by Charles Forsyth at the University of York in >England. England (unlike the U.S.) is a signatory to the Berne Convention, >which means that the author of any work, including software, gets >automatic copyright to the work when it is created. No notice is required. I had heard that the U.S. had finally joined the Berne Convention, so this will apply to all future unmarked U.S. works as well. You will need to explicitly disclaim the copyright to place it into the public domain. \\ / Dale Schumacher 399 Beacon Ave. \\ / (alias: Dalnefre') St. Paul, MN 55104-3527 >< ...umn-cs!midgard.mn.org!syntel!dal United States of America / \\ "What is wanted is not the will to believe, but the will to find out, / \\ which is the exact opposite." -Bertrand Russell
rains@dms.UUCP (Lyle Rains) (10/18/89)
From article <1989Oct16.230237.26440@utzoo.uucp>, by (Henry Spencer):
> The US *is* now a signatory to the Berne Convention, actually.
I read an article (I believe it was in the "Rules of the Game" column of
_UNIX_Review_; don't remember which month) which basically said that the US
now recognizes the rights of FOREIGN authors as per the above, but that
domestically it's more or less business as before. If you're a U.S. citizen
and you don't include notice, you may lose your rights here in the U.S.
(ironically, probably not so in other countries which are signatories to the
convention), and if you don't register your copyright with the Copyright
Office before taking legal action, any potential damages you might receive
are drastically reduced. I am not a lawyer, so check with one if this is
important to you.
--
/* Lyle Rains <-- Any stupid or offensive opinions above are all his.
* Atari Games <-- We make arcade video games, not product announcements.
* Milpitas, CA <-- OK, so maybe it's not Alviso. But it's home.
*/ast@cs.vu.nl (Andy Tanenbaum) (10/18/89)
In article <091689A6859@syntel.mn.org> dal@syntel.mn.org (Dale Schumacher) writes: >I had heard that the U.S. had finally joined the Berne Convention, so this >will apply to all future unmarked U.S. works as well. You will need to >explicitly disclaim the copyright to place it into the public domain. Several people have commented on this. Apparently the U.S. changed its own copyright law to be substantially in conformance with the Berne Convention. This has implications for comp.os.minix. If you post a program to the group and intend for it to be public domain, please include a message near the top to the effect: The author of this work, <name of author> hereby places it into the public domain. If you really want to keep the copyright, it might be best to put a copyright notice in it, even though that is not required any more. If you do that, I probably will only be able to use it if you sign a legal form devised by P-H's lawyers in which you sign away your life. Andy Tanenbaum (ast@cs.vu.nl)
jaap+@andrew.cmu.edu (Jaap Akkerhuis) (10/18/89)
At the latest EUUG conference there was a talk with the tittle ``How to protect your software through International copyright laws: step-by-step instructions'' by Alicia Dunbar. The paper in the is interesting reading material. Relevant to this discussion it states that the US signed the Berne Convention as of March 1, 1989. It also states that: ``Protection is automatic anywhere as long as you are a citizen of a UCC (Universal Copyright Convention) or Berne country and the work is unpublished. However, once the work is published, you must adhere to the rules imposed by the member country with which the work is registered''. It has a list with these rules for various countries. For the US it states (among other things): ``Section 411 of the Copyright Act has been changed to a two-part system where American authors are required to register while authors of other countries are not.'' Of course paper stresses ``Last an most important'' to seek legal counsel on a country-by-countru basis to protect your intellectual property. And that is obvious, since I'm immediately wondering whether I as a foreigner living in the US are considered an american or not according to Chapter 411 of the Copyright Act... jaap
forsyth@minster.york.ac.uk (10/20/89)
I do not normally read this group, but someone here mentioned this discussion to me. Andy Tanenbaum has correctly summarised the case of the minix shell. Perhaps it would help if I simply add that his further thoughts were correct: I am not planning to do anything with it myself, but I have no objection whatever to anyone else using it. (Of course, you must use your own judgement as to its suitability for any particular application; I provided it for use in an educational or hobbyist environment, not for controlling aircraft or power stations.)