On Sat, Jun 18, 2011 at 3:36 PM, Robert Bonomi <bon...@mail.r-bonomi.com> wrote: > >> From cpgh...@cordula.ws Sat Jun 18 08:28:25 2011 >> Date: Sat, 18 Jun 2011 15:28:24 +0200 >> Subject: Re: free sco unix >> From: "C. P. Ghost" <cpgh...@cordula.ws> >> To: Robert Bonomi <bon...@mail.r-bonomi.com> >> Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org >> >> On Sat, Jun 18, 2011 at 12:02 AM, Robert Bonomi >> <bon...@mail.r-bonomi.com> wrote: >> > I'ts _MUCH_ simpler, to just sign and date a copy of the work, and have a >> > notary public 'witness' the signature. >> >> True. >> >> Without the service of a public registry of copyrighted works that (I think) >> only the US offers, and when you need a legally binding "official stamp" of >> some sort, you can go to a registered public notary. They're mildly expensive >> though; certainly a lot more expensive than the US Copyright Office fees. > > 'Male bovine excrement' applies. > > U.S. Copyright Office registration is an absolute minimum of $25-30, and can > run over $100. > > Typical fee, in the U.S., for a notary public witnessing a signature is $1. > And many facilities, such as banks, will perform the service for _NO_COST_ > for their customers.
Outside the US, it's quite different. A public notary's fees run in the hundreds of dollars, but it's usually a flat fee... while public copy certifications are around $1-$2 per page, unless when required by law and statues. Banks are private institutions there, and they are not entitled to legally certify non-banking stuff. In some countries, you could go to the post office though, but here too, the fee usually applies per page. The problem with per-page fees is when you have many pages (like a book, or say, a printout of your code) that you want to certify. Unless you go to a notary and pay the according fee for them to KEEP (a copy of) the book in their office and/or certify EVERY page or be prepared to witness for each and every page (!), all you get is the certification of a couple of pages, and that could be insufficiant in some cases (e.g. in the case of program source code). That's why IMHO, the fees of the US Copyright Office are STILL way lower than what you'd have to pay elsewhere to get a similar certification. -cpghost. -- Cordula's Web. http://www.cordula.ws/ _______________________________________________ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org"
