On 1/3/08, Dan Horne <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Michael Peters wrote: > > Just saying something is copyrighted doesn't make it so :) > > > Er, assuming you're that actual author, why not?
(Under US law, and I think all the Berne signatories, as I understand them. YMMV.) Something is copyrighted the moment it's put into fixed form. The copyright notice only entitles you to seek statutory (I think) damages, presumeably on the principle that the infringer *really* should have known better. But the notice has to be in a specific format: "Copyright YYYY Copyright Holder's Name," where you can abbreviate it to "Copr." or use the (fully) circled-C symbol. In 2008, you don't update all your 2007 copyright notices... the 2007 ones are good indefinitely. (Technically, there's a limit. The US Constitution mandates one. But Congress keeps bumping the limit further out, which somehow doesn't count as being unlimited. But in Internet time, it's forever for all practical purposes.) If you keep updating your copyright notices, I imagine there are judges who would throw them out for purposes of damages. If you don't intend to seek damages, of course, you don't have to worry about getting the exact legality right - you're just trying to remind people that the copyright is there, since there are a lot of people who still assume that if it doesn't say otherwise, it's public domain. For that, you'd probably be better served with an undated copyright notice, and then a "last updated" with that year in it, though. (I am not a lawyer, I just have worked in several fields that involve copyright and accordingly have read a lot of lawyers' interpretations for laymen.) ##### CGI::Application community mailing list ################ ## ## ## To unsubscribe, or change your message delivery options, ## ## visit: http://www.erlbaum.net/mailman/listinfo/cgiapp ## ## ## ## Web archive: http://www.erlbaum.net/pipermail/cgiapp/ ## ## Wiki: http://cgiapp.erlbaum.net/ ## ## ## ################################################################
