CompuServe Messages

Frankly Michael, I don't know what the hell you are talking about. I am the manager and contract holder for this forum — I am not paying anyone 'quite a bit' — I'm not paying ANYONE for uploading ANYTHING. No one is 'getting sued' — please read the article in question before jumping in with both feet with incorrect facts. Incorrect facts is exactly what started this controversy. While I'm sure CIS management is preparing to give an understandable interpretation of their copyright policy I'll reiterate — PUBLIC DOMAIN SOFTWARE IS SOFTWARE IN WHICH THE AUTHOR HAS EXPLICITLY GIVEN UP ALL OF HIS/HER RIGHTS TO IT. FREELY DISTRIBUTABLE COPYRIGHTED SOFTWARE (SHAREWARE) HAS THE AUTHOR'S EXPRESSED PERMISSION FOR REDISTRIBUTION (BY THE VERY NATURE OF THE FREEWARE/SHAREWARE CONCEPT). CompuServe claims a compilation copyright on information on the system — do some research on compilation copyrights (write to the Library of Congress for copyright information). CompuServe does not claim ownership of individual files — they claim copyright on the COMPILATION — the COMPILATION cannot be reproduced. If an author uploads his/her copyrighted program here and has expressed that it's distribution is limited to here, CIS will back the author should his rights be violated. PLEASE NOTE THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN PUBLIC DOMAIN, SHAREWARE, and COPYRIGHTED SOFTWARE.