chuq@sun.uucp (Chuq Von Rospach) (01/17/86)
[I've redirected future followups to net.news, since this DOESN'T belong in net.sources] > >* ShareWare Copyright Notice * > >* Copyright I.M. Author. month day, year * > >* * > >* In recognition of the contributions of those who have gone before, and * > >* to encourage those who will follow, the attached software is placed in * > >* The Public Domain. /s/ I. M. Author month day, year * > > William says this lets the author retain copyright while permitting the > work to be freely copied. I'm pretty sure that's not the case. If you > "place something in the public domain" you have just given up your > copyright, by definition of "public domain." Far safer is to say > "permission is hereby granted to copy and use this work except for > profit" or words to that effect. Copyright and public domain are mutually exclusive terms. You can't do both.. You **SHOULD** be able to copyright and allow redistribution for non-commercial purposes but I haven't seen any case that set this precedent. Be VERY careful how you define your terms. "Public domain" is a well defined legal term, and if you call something that the lawyers will assume that you give up ALL rights regardless of what you meant. > Incidentally, Americans should note that if you put a copyright notice > on something you are legally obligated to send a copy to the Library of > Congress *whether or not you choose to register your copyright claim*! I've never seen that requirement, and I'd love to see where it came from (have they changed copyrights when I wasn't looking?) Last I looked, you didn't even have to publish something to copyright it, much less ship a copy anywhere. You only need to register a work if you think you are going to have to file a claim, otherwise you don't need to do anything to copyright. -- :From catacombs of Castle Tarot: Chuq Von Rospach sun!chuq@decwrl.DEC.COM {hplabs,ihnp4,nsc,pyramid}!sun!chuq It's not looking, it's heat seeking.