Xref: utzoo comp.sys.misc:2506 comp.sys.ibm.pc:35680 Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!purdue!bu-cs!madd From: madd@bu-cs.BU.EDU (Jim Frost) Newsgroups: comp.sys.misc,comp.sys.ibm.pc Subject: Re: Copyrighting Software Message-ID: <39426@bu-cs.BU.EDU> Date: 3 Oct 89 19:00:14 GMT References: <9263@pyr.gatech.EDU> Reply-To: madd@cs.bu.edu (Jim Frost) Followup-To: comp.sys.misc Distribution: usa Organization: Software Tool & Die Lines: 34 In article <9263@pyr.gatech.EDU> ccastje@pyr.gatech.EDU (John Adair) writes: |Does anyone know the method for copyrighting software? Is each revision |a seperate copyright? Merely by sticking the message: Copyright 1989 Yourname on the program, it is copyrighted. You earn treble damages if you register the copyright (using Form TX, obtainable from the Library of Congress but I don't have the address handy). Registration costs $10. Subsequent versions of software should be re-copyrighted to guarantee protection, but there are some weirdnesses covering derived works which may actually give you some coverage. I'd copyright each revision specifically if I were worried about it. A couple of caveats: (c) is not equivalent to c-in-a-circle; if you can't reproduce c-in-a-circle, you *must* use the word "copyright" or the notice is invalid. Thus: "(c) 1989 Yourname" is invalid "Copyright 1989 Yourname" is valid. "Copyright (c) 1989 Yourname" is valid. I usually use the latter although the (c) is meaningless. Another common thing to do is "Copyright 1989 by Yourname" which is also valid, although I'd limit the number of extraneous symbols or words that I put in my notice. Happy hacking, jim frost madd@std.com