sec@berlin.acss.umn.edu (Stephen E. Collins) (11/19/88)
A number of people have been spouting off about this or that fact regarding the copyright laws lately. It is a simple matter to go to your local law library and ask to look at a copy of Title 17 USCS and get the facts for yourself (no, you probably can't ftp it from anywhere, you'll have to use traditional information gathering methods; but it will be a good exercise for you). What you discover may suprise you. The law as written is not entirely unreadable, and with a little bit of study, you might even learn something. While the copy I keep in my files is a few years old, according my inter- pretation of it, those people trying to copyright their "shareware", "public domain", "anonymous ftp", and other such programs and documents are not complying with the statutes, thereby opening themselves up to civil fines and preventing any enforcement of their copyright claim. Furthermore, those who are "copyrighting" messages, etc., to prevent people from quoting them out of context hopelessly misunderstand the copyright laws. However, all this is beside the point. The actual question is what will happen if someone violates your supposed copyright claim, or you violate someone elses copyright claim. Will that violation be taken to court or enforced by anyone? HIGHLY UNLIKELY! If anyone is really interested in making a valid copyright for something, I suggest writing to the copyright office and asking for a copy of Circular R1 "The Nuts and Bolts of Copyright", a copyright application form, and related information. The address is: Copyright Office Library of Congress Washington, DC 20559 That's enough said here about copyrights. Any further discussion of this subject should be with your lawyer, not with us country bumkins. +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Stephen E. Collins | sec@ux.acss.umn.edu / | ACSS Microcomputer & Workstation Systems Group | sec@UMNACVX.BITNET / | 125 Shepherd Labs +-----------+-------------------/ | University of Minnesota | Cum hanc intellegas, Latinam / | Minneapolis, MN 55455 | sententiolam potes legere! / +------------------------------------+----------------------------+