🚀 go-pugleaf

rtdickerson@lescsse.jsc.nasa.gov (russel dickerson) writes:
> The previous posting of a recycle EPS with a 
> COPYRIGHT message brings to mind a question that
> has been puzzling me.....
> 
> IF the EPS file was based on a scanned recycle logo from 
> some copyrighted source...

Let me interject that most of the "recycled" logos I've seen do not bear
copyright notices.  If someone scanned in a copyrighted logo...

> What portion is really the copyright of the submittor?

...then it would be a copyright violation (and of course none of it would
belong to the submitter)...but as I suggest, I think that's unlikely.

> I know that merely transfering a copyrighted item to
> another medium does not free it from the prior copyright.

True, but if the original work were *not* copyrighted, then it would not be
possible to claim copyright simply by transferring to another medium.

HOWEVER:  Even though the logo itself might not be subject to copyright,
one can write a program which will produce the logo, and the program can be
copyrighted.  In this case, the copyright protection doesn't extend to the
logo itself, but it covers the use of the program to produce the logo.  If
you produce the logo by some other means, you can use it without infringing
the copyright.  This is similar to the situation with copyrights on fonts
such as Adobe has:  The artwork of the fonts (the actual appearance) cannot
be protected by a copyright (in the US, that is), but what Adobe licenses
is a program.  The use and redistribution of that program is protected by
their copyright.

> 2) IF the original recycle logo is a trademark and has been
>    placed into the public domain, can the submittor claim
>    any portion of the copyright?

You've given us some very confused wording here, so I may end up dancing
around the question you intended.

Mainly:  If something is "placed into the public domain", it means there is
NO claim of property right on it.  Neither you nor anyone else can claim
a copyright on it--in effect "the public owns it" and anyone is free to use
it.  (Anyone can make a "derivative work" and copyright that...but deriva-
tive works are something else apart from this discussion.)
-- 
Dick Dunn     rcd@ico.isc.com -or- ico!rcd       Boulder, CO   (303)449-2870
   ...If you plant ice, you're gonna harvest wind.