Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!seismo!sundc!pitstop!sun!tjhorton@ai.toronto.edu
From: tjhorton@ai.toronto.edu (Timothy J. Horton)
Newsgroups: comp.text.desktop
Subject: Re: Copyright
Message-ID: <36496@sun.uucp>
Date: 15 Dec 87 00:11:41 GMT
Sender: news@sun.uucp
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Approved: desktop-request%plaid@sun.com

As far as printed material goes, all you have to do is write
"copyright" or the C in a little circle, your name, and the date,
somewhere that people are sure to find if they look.  That protects
you in the U.S. and much of the world that respects such copyrights.  
For official copyright registration, file forms available from the
Copyright Office of the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., 20559.
Filing adds no rights beyond those you get by simply including the
phrase, but does prove the exact date the copyright took effect.

As far as computer software goes, presumably similar laws apply,
(but I'm no expert here).  That's probably why software often
blasts the copyright notification at you when you fire it up.

In Canada, and some other countries, no such phrase is necessary
in printed publications.  Simply assume that anything published
later than 1950 is under copyright.
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