🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1993Jan5.172528.29826@fsl.noaa.gov> bear@kestrel.fsl.noaa.gov (Bear Giles) writes:
>In article <ui8VwB1w164w@jwt.UUCP> bbs-cyclic@jwt.UUCP writes:
>>Does anybody know the correct procedures for obtaining a copyright?  Any 
>>and all advice is welcomed.  Thanks.
>
>Copyright (c) 1993 Bruce R. Giles.  All rights reserved.

	I would also advise not skipping this copyright statement.  Make sure
it is displayed prominately on the splash screen of your program or artwork,
and sprinkle it in a few places in your compiled code in human readable form
(ASCII).  Technically, the statement is not necessary in countries which
follow the Berne copyright agreement, but including it will protect you in
countries which have not signed the agreement.

>
>BTW, this is _not_ necessary, it simply provides additional legal
>protection.  _All_ creative work is "born copyrighted;" the legal
>definition of "creative work" only requires it not be blindingly
>obvious (e.g., the white pages of the phone book does not have a
>"compilation" copyright) and that more than one expression is possible
>(the opcodes of a CPU cannot be copyrighted since only those codes
>will cause the CPU to perform the desired operations; the nmenonic 
>codes used to describe those opcodes _can_ be copyrighted since you
>could use "MOV" or "MOVE" or "MV" or... and you could use different
>operand ordering).

	This is correct, but the basis of copyright lies in original
expression.  The reason why a phone book is not copyrightable is that it
is a compilation of facts (however, there is a recent case which might change
everything in phonebooks and facts).  A fact is not copyrightable, nor is a
functional item.  Thus, opcodes are not elibible for copyright, although the
expressions of those codes, the actual text representation, are.

>
>There is a central registry where you can send material but nobody
>bothers with software -- it is only used by literary authors.

	 I would advise registering your copyright, since this allows you
to recover, in general, more damages in case of infringement than would
otherwise be possible.  If I recall, it is relatively inexpensive, only a
few dollars, and provides immense protection.  Unfortunately, I don't have
the address on hand.


>Bear Giles
>bear@fsl.noaa.gov/colorado.edu


Mark "Simms" Kern

-= This is not legal advice.  Please consult your attorney for details. =-