As far as I know, as long as you put a copyright symbol with your name in
your program, it's legally copyrighted to you. Another way to ensure
copyright is to seal a copy of the program in a mailing box and send it to
yourself, and then don't open it.. The postmark date will ensure that it
was you first :) Just my .20 cents ;)

Bye! :)

ps: A new wave! do .20 cents instead of .02!! :)

--
  ++   ++   "Well Samwise: What do you think of the elves now?"


  ++   ++------------------------------------------------------

One other thing, I no longer have the email address of the original
poster so I will post this instead. I have the addresses you need to
get an actual registration of copyright if you want them.

Cheers,
Damien

========================================================
Are you a shareware programmer? E-mail me for info on
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=== "http://204.101.50.93/students/damien/dmhome.htm" ===

What I haven't said in private email is that there is a Copyright FAQ which
gets posted to misc.legal and probably misc.answers (maybe some of the other
legal and answers groups as well) which discusses a lot of copyright myths and
so forth.

Generally speaking, in the United States, a program is protected by copyright
as soon as it's written.  When software is distributed, the program and all
accompanying documentation should bear a notice of copyright.

If you choose not register your work, if you file a lawsuit against someone
for copyright infringement, you have to show that A) you wrote the program B)
you did not give up your copyright and C) the other party knowingly or
unknowingly infringed upon your work.  Also, you are not entitled to punitive
damages if you sue over an unregistered work.

Infringement does not mean duplication of effort (if it did, a lot of software
firms would be out of business).  Infringement implies exposure to the
original work in some form or fashion.

Also, any area of copyright law which has not be taken to the Supreme Court
may be interpreted differently in each of the 12 judicial districts.

And though many countries are signatory to the Bern convention, there are
still some differences in copyright laws in various countries.  It's always
best to learn your rights before distributing software outside your own
country.

But remember: simply mailing something to yourself does not prove that you are
the originator of the work.  All it proves is that you mailed something to
yourself.

--
  ++   ++   "Well Samwise: What do you think of the elves now?"


  ++   ++------------------------------------------------------

  You can (I am speaking in the U.S., of course) just put a copyright symbol and your name on your work
and you have a copyright on it, but if someone infringed the copyright, one could not sue for money for
copyright infringement (you could, however, sue for an injunction or something along those lines).
  If you want an official U.S. copyright, you must write to The Department of Patents, Copyrights, and
Trademarks. (I think that it is a part of the Library of Congress).  Anyways, your
local library should have the details (or a volume of books with U.S. Code in them, so you can find the
address

|>

|>
|> >The first method is recognized in US copyright law.  The second method
|> >(sending a copy to yourself) has no legal standing whatsoever.
|>                         ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
|> Wrong! Registration is not necessary. However it is used to prove the
|> date of the creation of your program and to prove you made it. Mailing
|> it to yourself proves both, as long as you don't distribute your
|> program to ANYONE before mailing it. This, of course, isn't the best
|> form of copyright protection. But it IS legally binding. It's better
|> to just pay the $35 or whatever it is.

Damien,

You are probably basing your belief in the legality of this
method on the fact that it is repeated so often it must be true.

But only a bit of thought is needed to know that the "mail it
to yourself" method is bogus. Suppose I send my self an empty,
unsealed envelope in the mail. The Postal Service will deliver
it to me, postmarked, dated,  but unsealed.

A couple of months (or years) later, I stuff some code into the
envelope and seal it. According to your method, I have now "proved"
that the code was in the envelope was written before the postmarked
date on the envelope. Of course, the courts are smart enough to
invalidate this "proof" of copyright date.

However, this is one old-wive's tale that will never die,
in spite of the facts. Don't be too ashamed that you passed it
on. Thousands of people repeat this tale every year.

Brian M.

James

Sending a registered letter to yourself indisputably proves that you sent a
registered letter to yourself on whatever date is postmarked.  That is not the
problem with using this method to prove ownership of copyright.

The problem is that it doesn't show that you wrote the code (or whatever).  In
order to enforce a claim of copyright, you have to prove authorship.  The
Postal Service provides no assistance in this area.

In order to collect punitive damages (in the United States), you have to
register the copyright with the government.  If you don't register it, even if
you prove your case in court, all you'll get compensated for is about twice
the retail value of the software (if even that much).

That's the way US Copyright Law works today.

People who feel they have developed a truly valuable application should just
go ahead and register it if they think they have legitimate reasons to be
concerned about someone else violating their copyrights.

--
  ++   ++   "Well Samwise: What do you think of the elves now?"


  ++   ++------------------------------------------------------

Anyway, what you said makes sense. It's best to just register
regardless whether mailing is legal or not.

Cheers,
Damien

========================================================
Are you a shareware programmer? E-mail me for info on
something I'm writing to make your life a lot easier!!!
=== "http://204.101.50.93/students/damien/dmhome.htm" ===