Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.3 4.3bsd-beta 6/6/85; site ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!ucbvax!info-law
From: wmartin@ALMSA-1.ARPA (Will Martin -- AMXAL-RI)
Newsgroups: mod.legal
Subject: More on copyright
Message-ID: <8603010225.AA02723@ucbvax.berkeley.edu>
Date: Fri, 28-Feb-86 14:50:53 EST
Article-I.D.: ucbvax.8603010225.AA02723
Posted: Fri Feb 28 14:50:53 1986
Date-Received: Sat, 1-Mar-86 18:17:26 EST
Sender: uucp@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Organization: The ARPA Internet
Lines: 26
Approved: info-law@brl.arpa

First off, thanks to Jordan & Lisa Breslow for that long and informative
(and well-written) article on Copyright Law that came out about 10 days
back. Reading it and other related net discussion inspires this query:

Programmer Sam Smith writes a whiz-bang great & wonderful program. He
registers it with the copyright office, includes the required copyright
notices, and does everything right.

Unethical person John Doe gets an electronic-format copy of Smith's
program, modifies it by deleting all the copyright notices, marks it
"public domain", and uploads it to a bunch of popular BBS's, naming it
differently than Smith's original name and also giving the program
various different names on the different BBS's. From there, naturally,
hundreds of people grab copies, and some upload it to other BBS's. In a
few days, there are thousands of copies of this program floating around
the country, with various names, and, by now, many have already been
modified or altered so they are no longer identical to the original.

So, just where does Smith stand and what should he do, in practical
terms? It will take extensive investigation and resources to discover
and determine that John Doe was the one that originally stole the
program, and it may be impossible to now locate all copies and
derivatives of the original program. Should Smith just eat the
injustice and give up? Or what?

Will Martin