🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <238@sage.cs.reading.ac.uk> gordon@sage.UUCP (Simon Gordon) writes:

...

>
>They can't realy do much now, because a great many people got this game
>thinking it was in the PD. I got my copy from a freind who visited a freind
>of his in America (Im in England). The program doesn't include any
>copywrite notice so how were we to know.

     Simon, in many countries, and I believe in England, a work is protected
unless it is marked otherwise or is otherwise by action of law (such as by
the expiry of copyright protection).  I would appreciate it if you would
confirm or deny this (if you can dig up a knowledgeable law student) as it
is a matter of no small importance to us.

     In Canada, we definitely do *not* require Copyright notice.  The only
reason we use Copyright notices in Canada is to protect works which may cross
over into the US where Canadian works are protected via UCC only if we have
the proper notice.  This is not a requirement under Berne.

     I don't like Berne, but that's another matter.

>
>The problem gets even worse when stuff is made PD in some countries,
>and not in others.

     It's a problem if you govern yourself strickly by what you can legally
get away with.  If you decide to respect the wishes of an author regardless
of what the absolute law is, you really don't have to care much about the
blather at all.  If a person with a reasonable claim to authorship says you
shouldn't have something they produced you can kill the file out of what
respect you have for that person.  I've done this before and will likely do
it again.

>