Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!sarah!cs.albany.edu!crdgw1!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!spool.mu.edu!cs.umn.edu!uc!shamash!timbuk!willow23!rice
From: rice@willow23.cray.com (Jonathan Rice)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.pascal
Subject: Re: Copyrighting software
Message-ID: <143025.24846@timbuk.cray.com>
Date: 10 May 91 22:17:22 GMT
References: <1991May8.150708.29420@cs.odu.edu> <24272@dice.la.locus.com>
Distribution: usa
Organization: Cray Research, Inc., Eagan, MN
Lines: 63


Mr. Rosen answered this query quite well.  I'll offer a few small corrections
and additions to his article.

In article <24272@dice.la.locus.com> jfr@locus.com (Jon Rosen) writes:
>In article <1991May8.150708.29420@cs.odu.edu> popkin@osric.cs.odu.edu (Brian N. Popkin) writes:
>>
>>I have currently written a turbo pascal v6.0 program that I want to
>>copyright.. how should I go about this???

>In order to enforce a copyright (i.e., win damages in a lawsuit for an
>infringement), you must REGISTER the copyright. 

Without registration you may still sue for actual damages.  You must register
to sue for "statutory damages" or to have the infringer pay your court costs
(assuming you win).  Statutory damages will often far exceed your actual
damages (e.g. lost sales).

>...call the Office of U.S. Patents, Trademarks and Copyrights
>in Washington DC),

Patents & Trademarks is one office; Copyrights is another.

          United States Copyright Office
          Library of Congress
          Washington D.C.

You need form "TX."

>[Don't want anyone to see code?]
> However, remember that copyright is protection of
>PUBLISHED information so you must publish something in order to
>copyright it.
>... All you have to do to copyright a software program is
>include some pages (I believe 5 from the front and 5 from the
>back) of the listing of the program.  Of course, what you do here
>is make sure that the first five and last five pages are mostly
>irrelevent comments...

First 25 and last 25 pages.

There's another strategy here that can be quite successful.  Copyright the
object code (yes, send in 50 pages of hex).  This requires you to file for
the copyright under the "Rule of Doubt."  This sounds scary, but all it means
is that the Copyright examiner can't look at 50 pages of hex and say "aha, it
is obvious to me that this is a work of original authorship qualifying under
the copyright law."  Some extra paperwork, but not hard.

Protect the source code as a Trade Secret.  If you are not a corporation,
just don't show it to anyone.

>In addition, if you program has any important visual information
>such as screen displays, reports, etc., that you want protected
>as part of the "look" of the program, you need to send photos
>or printouts of those too.  

Very rarely applicable -- form TX covers almost all software.  If you have a
program with a highly visual content, particularly if it's animated (e.g. a
video game) then you *might* have a stab at filing form PA with a videotape.
I wouldn't touch this, myself.

-- 
Jonathan C. Rice  |  Internet: rice@cray.com  |  UUCP: uunet!cray!rice