Ben Finney wrote: > My understanding is that a copyright declaration on the work makes it > easier to prove to a court that the recipient knows that the work *is* > copyrighted to the specified entity, and that the copyright is > current.
"Furthermore, in the event that a work is infringed, if the work carries a proper notice, the court will not give any weight to a defendant's interposition of an innocent infringement defense.that is, that he or she did not realize that the work was protected. An innocent infringement defense may result in a reduction in damages that the copyright owner would otherwise receive." http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ03.html This innocent infringement defense is section 504(c)(2) of the Copyright Act (17 USC). "... In a case where the infringer sustains the burden of proving, and the court finds, that such infringer was not aware and had no reason to believe that his or her acts constituted an infringement of copyright, the court in its discretion may reduce the award of statutory damages to a sum of not less than $200. ..." http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/504.html Arnoud -- Arnoud Engelfriet, Dutch & European patent attorney - Speaking only for myself Patents, copyright and IPR explained for techies: http://www.iusmentis.com/ Arnoud blogt nu ook: http://blog.iusmentis.com/ -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
