🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1992Oct13.063649.2027@RedBrick.COM> jfr@RedBrick.COM writes:

>  If you have in fact copyrighted a work AND published it (the act of
>  publication turns it into a copyrightable work) you are protected from
>  the data of publication...

Actually, under US copyright law, a work is considered copyrighted when it
is created.  All works are protected for the life of the author plus 50
years (if the copyright is held by an individual) or 75 years (if held by
a corporation).

>  into a copyrightable work) you are protected from the date of publication
>  but you are not permitted to actually sue anyone for a violation UNTIL
>  YOU REGISTER your copyright.  This is done by filing a form along with
>  some amount of money (about $50 or so, although it may have gone up 
>  given the $4 trillion dollar deficit :-)

True, although I thought the fee was more on the order of $10, but it's
been a while since I've checked on this.

>  In all cases, you must have provided the proper notices on all published
>  works in order to be protected at all.

This is not actually true.  US copyrights are permissive, i.e. a work is
assumed to be copyrighted unless explicitly placed in the public domain or
the existing copyright has expired.  However, it is much harder to prove
copyright infringement without the notice, so it is always a good idea to
include it.  And a notice line of "(c) 1992 YourName" is not considered a
legal copyright notice.  The c has to be in a _unbroken_ circle, so when
typing your notice in the source code, always use "Copyright 1992 YourName"
(the "(c)" is often included after "Copyright", but has no legal status).

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