#Individual FF Disks
17-Jun-88 00:28:12
Sb: #129836-#Individual FF Disks
Fm: Don Curtis/SYSOP 76703,4321
To: John Foust 72237,135
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John, A bit of a correction…ALL software is copyrighted by the author the
moment he distributes it, even if the author places the software in the
Public Domain, the author still owns the copyright…the author has merely
relinquished any rights he may have had for infringment.
A piece of software that expressly states "copyright by xxxx 19xx" can ONLY
be distributed in accordance with the author's wishes. If the author also
makes the software 'freely re-distributable', then it may be distributed
for no profit (copying costs are acceptable) by anyone without specific
permission from the author. It may NOT be modified, or included in a
commercial program without specific permission from the author.
You do NOT need to even include a copyright notice under US law, let alone
register it with the government for a copyright to be valid, all adding the
notice does is make it easier to prosecute a violation. Same goes for
registration, it simply makes it easier to prosecute by establishing a copy
of the software as of a certain date from a specific individual so that in
the future, establishing which was first, or what algorithms are being
used, etc. are easier to prove.