wargo@sdcsla.UUCP (03/27/84)
Hello out there. With all this interest in copyright stuff I was wondering: 1)What is the difference between Copyright and Patent? 2)Can a game be copyrighted ? 3)Does a copyright expire after x number of years ? Thanks for your advice. Dave Wargo ucbvax!sdcsvax!sdcsal:wargo
orel@yale-com.UUCP (Matthew R. Orel) (03/31/84)
I do not know if the question of length of copyrights has been dealt with already (apologies if so). As far as I know, copyright lengths are lifetime + 50 years (the copyright act of 1909 specified 28 years, ubt it has been changed since then). However, permission is only needed for a first copy in any case, after which anyone can copy it as long as they pay the appropriate royalties. Also, material in the public domain (such as tradtitional folk songs) may be arranged, with the arranged copyrighting his arrangement. (make that the arranger doing the copyrighting...) Btw, if anyone is still interested in the KDKA question, it is my information that KDKA was, indeed, the first professional radio station. WEAF New York was the first real commercial station (KDKA was run by Westinghouse for the purpose of selling radio sets, and not to make a profit itself). KDKA started in 1920. WEAF also took part in the first 'network' broadcasts over AT&T lines (the first such show was the Eveready radio hour), and in 1926 became the flagship station of the NBC network. It took until 1932 that ASCAP successfully sued radio over its broadcasting of copyrighted material, and a lot of our current laws are results. So much for my annual contribution to the net. Don't sue me if I'm repeating anything that you've already said. -- Matthew Orel see header for address...