Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!asuvax!ncar!hsdndev!bunny!bunny.gte.com!CAH0 From: CAH0@bunny.gte.com (Chuck Hoffman) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer Subject: Re: Publishing Software Message-ID: <11293@bunny.GTE.COM> Date: 30 May 91 17:53:27 GMT References: <1991May28.105610.29170@crash.cts.com> Sender: news@gte.com Organization: GTE Laboratories, Inc. Lines: 73 In article <1991May28.105610.29170@crash.cts.com> stuart1@pro-sol.cts.com (Stuart Schechter) writes: > You should also file a copy of the source and executable > with the Library of Congress and obtain an official copyright registration > number. The cost for this is around $40 and the forms may be obtained from > your local Government Information Center (see the U. S. Government listing > in your phone book for the phone number). I've copyrighted several things. The cost is $10 if you copyright the source as "text" (form TX). You can get the forms by calling a recording at the Library of Congress in Washington. Call directory assistance for that area code to get the number. You do need to send in TWO copies of your source, showing at least the first 50 and last 50 pages (the old, pre-Berne documentation says one). If you want to copyright the outward appearance, such as screen / window formats, you copyright them separately as if they were "works of art," (form PA - I think). The forms, by the way, are *NOT* copyrighted. If you get one copy, it's okay with the Library of Congress if you make other copies, as long as you follow their format of printing on both sides, with the top of one side meeting the bottom of the other. Software is protected in the U.S. by a hodgepodge of overlapping copyright, patent, and trade secret laws. They aren't necessarily mutually supportive. For example, when you file a copyright you lose trade secret protection. A good book is "Legal Care for your Software" published by Nolo Press, Berkeley, CA. It also tells you how to fill out the form, which can be ambiguous and confusing. The authority of the U.S. Congress to protect new invention is written right into the Constitution of the U.S. No wonder. Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin were both inventors! Copyright registrations are cheap, mostly do-it-yourself, and you get them quickly. Patents are expensive, absolutely require an expert (attorney), and can take a couple of years. (My dad has patents.) If you have shown something in a newsletter, or in a talk or presentation, or have just showed off copies of it to some other people, before you declare your copyright (by putting the copyright notice in), you will *NOT* have a valid copyright claim later. Put the copyright notice in when you first write the code. Put the copyright notice in a place obviously visible to the users. I use both the "vers" resource, and the "Owner Resource" to declare my copyright. In my "About" dialog, I go get the "vers" resource and put it into the dialog as a user item. I also have a source text string with the copyright. It can be read from the source, and it appears in the CODE resource. The word "Copyright" and the copyright symbol ")" are both okay to use. The typed characters "(c)" used to be okay, but not since the Berne convention. When you make upgrades to your software, upgrade your copyright registration by filing again (I keep copies of blank forms). It will cost you another $10, but your original copyright does *NOT* protect any non-trivial upgrades. For programmers, I recommend that for any significant legal work, use the services of a professional attorney. (And for attorneys, I recommend that for any significant programming work, use the services of a professional programmer.) Chuck Hoffman, GTE Laboratories, Inc. | I'm not sure why we're here, cah0@bunny.gte.com | but I am sure that while we're Telephone (U.S.A.) 617-466-2131 | here, we're supposed to help GTE VoiceNet: 679-2131 | each other. GTE Telemail: C.HOFFMAN |