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Path: utzoo!utgpu!utfyzx!sq!msb
From: msb@sq.UUCP
Newsgroups: news.software.b
Subject: Re: Public Domain Netnews...
Message-ID: <1987Feb20.114205.12298@sq.uucp>
Date: Fri, 20-Feb-87 11:42:05 EST
Article-I.D.: sq.1987Feb20.114205.12298
Posted: Fri Feb 20 11:42:05 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 21-Feb-87 04:53:08 EST
References: <1312@hplabsc.UUCP> <4169@sdcrdcf.UUCP>
Reply-To: msb@sq.UUCP (Mark Brader)
Organization: SoftQuad Inc., Toronto
Lines: 14
Checksum: 46700

> The ONLY way to keep someone else from copyrighting and selling your code,
> or a derivative of your code, is to copyright it yourself.

Hold it!  There are two different cases here.  It is NOT true that someone
else can copyright something that you wrote and placed in the public domain.
Only the author can claim, or assign away, a copyright.  Someone else
can put a copyright notice on it, but at most this creates a burden
of proof.  The existence of an earlier public domain copy invalidates the
copyright claim.

Derivative works are another matter.

Mark Brader	  "I'm not a lawyer, but I'm pedantic and that's just as good."
utzoo!sq!msb	   (me neither)		 (me too)	       -- D Gary Grady