Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site cca.UUCP Path: utzoo!decvax!cca!dee From: dee@cca.UUCP (Donald Eastlake) Newsgroups: net.legal,net.sources Subject: (C) Message-ID: <3299@cca.UUCP> Date: Fri, 12-Jul-85 23:32:32 EDT Article-I.D.: cca.3299 Posted: Fri Jul 12 23:32:32 1985 Date-Received: Thu, 15-Aug-85 15:52:59 EDT Distribution: na Organization: Computer Corp. of America, Cambridge Lines: 23 Xref: cca net.legal:1742 net.sources:2901 I am not a lawyer but I have read a fair amount on intellectual property law and legal aspects of computer software protection. As far as I can remember, nothing that I have ever read gives any credance to the obviously widely held theory that "(C)" or "(c)" are valid marks to indicate a copyright. The only valid marks I ever see listed are 1. "Copyright" 2. "Copr." 3. The letter C completely enclosed in a circle. A particularly common place to see just "(C)" with a year and a name is in source code. Presumably "Copyright" would work if it was in all caps or all lower case since they are "close enough" to the originally required notice. Is that the theory with a "C" in parenthesis, that it is "close enough" to being in a circle? Is there any case law on this? Of course many people say "Copyright (C) ..." which should work fine. -- +1 617-492-8860 Donald E. Eastlake, III ARPA: dee@CCA-UNIX usenet: {decvax,linus}!cca!dee