Re: Society's access to source code (was Re: KDE v. Gnome)

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Article #1250

#1250

From: john
Date: Fri, 09 Oct 1998 00:00

21 lines
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graywolf writes:
> To make a claim under the Federal Copyright Act the item needs to be
> registared with two copies on file at the Library of Congress.  You own
> the copyright even if not registared, but the Federal courts will not try
> the case, so you can not enforce your copyright.  And attempting to hold
> the information as a Trade Secret voids the copyright claim.
 
> I am not an attorney.  The above is not offered as legal advice.

That's just as well, as it is quite wrong.  You have an enforceable
copyright the instant you fix your work in tangible form.  What you gain
from registration is statutory damages and the aid of US Customs in
preventing importation of infringing material.

Secrecy and copyright certainly should be mutually exclusive, but they
aren't.  One of the many defects in copyright law, with more to come.
-- 
John Hasler                This posting is in the public domain.
john@dhh.gt.org		   Do with it what you will.
Dancing Horse Hill         Make money from it if you can; I don't mind.
Elmwood, Wisconsin         Do not send email advertisements to this address.

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From: john@dhh.gt.org
Subject: Re: Society's access to source code (was Re: KDE v. Gnome)
Date: 1998/10/09
Message-ID: <87iuhua4yh.fsf@hasler.dhh>
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