reid@glacier.ARPA (Brian Reid) (01/23/86)
It is absolutely false that material posted to USENET is automatically in the public domain. Perhaps in Canada (where ubc-cs is) that is true, but in the United States all published material is automatically the copyright of the author whether or not it has the "Copyright (C) 1986 XXXX" mark on it. The copyright laws (rev. 1978) are extremely clear on this, and the documentation published by the US Copyright office states this beyond any possibility of misinterpretation. Material posted to USENET is the copyright property of the poster under U.S. statute. On the other hand, it might be true that the presence of a Copyright notice might reduce the temptation to pilfer; if so, then such a notice is helpful. -- Brian Reid decwrl!glacier!reid Stanford reid@SU-Glacier.ARPA
tim@ism780c.UUCP (Tim Smith) (01/25/86)
In article <3424@glacier.ARPA> reid@glacier.UUCP (Brian Reid) writes: > >It is absolutely false that material posted to USENET is automatically in >the public domain. Perhaps in Canada (where ubc-cs is) that is true, but in >the United States all published material is automatically the copyright of >the author whether or not it has the "Copyright (C) 1986 XXXX" mark on it. I don't have my books with me, so I may be wrong here, but I think that if you publish your work without a copyright notice, you do lose the copyright. I think I remember reading that one of the advantages of registering your copyright is that if you accidently publish without a copyright notice, you are still protected. -- Tim Smith sdcrdcf!ism780c!tim || ima!ism780!tim || ihnp4!cithep!tim
jeff@rtech.UUCP (Jeff Lichtman) (01/25/86)
> > It is absolutely false that material posted to USENET is automatically in > the public domain. Perhaps in Canada (where ubc-cs is) that is true, but in > the United States all published material is automatically the copyright of > the author whether or not it has the "Copyright (C) 1986 XXXX" mark on it. > -- > Brian Reid decwrl!glacier!reid According to William S. Strong in "The Copyright Book" (MIT Press), an author forfeits copyright if he or she publishes it without affixing a copyright notice. Before 1978, a work was protected under common law if it was not published or registered with the Copyright Office. The 1978 law protects most unpublished works under federal law. Strong is a copyright lawyer, so I think he knows what he's talking about. -- Jeff Lichtman at rtech (Relational Technology, Inc.) "Saints should always be judged guilty until they are proved innocent..." {amdahl, sun}!rtech!jeff {ucbvax, decvax}!mtxinu!rtech!jeff
tim@ism780c.UUCP (Tim Smith) (01/28/86)
In article <841@rtech.UUCP> jeff@rtech.UUCP (Jeff Lichtman) writes: >> >> It is absolutely false that material posted to USENET is automatically in >> the public domain. Perhaps in Canada (where ubc-cs is) that is true, but in >> the United States all published material is automatically the copyright of >> the author whether or not it has the "Copyright (C) 1986 XXXX" mark on it. > >According to William S. Strong in "The Copyright Book" (MIT Press), an author >forfeits copyright if he or she publishes it without affixing a copyright >notice. Before 1978, a work was protected under common law if it was not >published or registered with the Copyright Office. The 1978 law protects >most unpublished works under federal law. Strong is a copyright lawyer, so >I think he knows what he's talking about. >-- >Jeff Lichtman at rtech (Relational Technology, Inc.) >"Saints should always be judged guilty until they are proved innocent..." I looked up copyright in the Encyclopedia of American Law ( I think that was the title ), and what Mr. Lichtman says is correct. You _can_ avoid losing the copyright if you publish without a notice if it is only a "relatively small" number of copies published, if you have registered or register the work with the copyright office, or if someone who has an agreement with you not to publish your work violates that agreement. I don't think these exceptions would apply to most Usenet postings, thus, Usenet stuff is public domain unless it has a copyright notice. -- Tim Smith sdcrdcf!ism780c!tim || ima!ism780!tim || ihnp4!cithep!tim