🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1612@fig.bbn.com> rsalz@uunet.uu.net (Rich Salz) writes:
>Submitted-by: Kenneth Stauffer <stauffer@cpsc.UCalgary.CA>
>...
> * (c) 1989 Ken Stauffer
>...

I don't want to be too pedantic, but there are two problems with this
attempt at a copyright notice:

1) It isn't a valid US copyright notice.  To be one, it has to have
 the word "Copyright" or the little-c-in-a-circle.  Last I looked, the
 string "(c)" was not an acceptable replacement for the word "Copyright".
 An example of a correct copyright notice is:

	Copyright 1989 Ken Stauffer

2) Suppose it is a valid copyright -- it grants no rights to reproduce
 the work.  This copyright is essentially no different than one you might
 find on a commercial product that has inadvertently been put on the net.
 Explicitly grant the rights you want to give to the net, for example:

	You can freely copy and distribute this code,
	providing that you don't sell it.

Of course, another option is to leave off the copyright altogether,
placing the work in the public domain (that's the one I prefer).

If you want to protect your work, it's worth your time to find out how to
write a valid copyright notice.  "The Copyright Book", published by MIT press,
is a good reference.


Brad Needham
bradn@tekig4.TEK.COM