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Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watnot!watmath!clyde!rutgers!seismo!kitty!larry
From: larry@kitty.UUCP
Newsgroups: news.software.b,misc.legal
Subject: Re: Copyright status of the netnews software
Message-ID: <1625@kitty.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 28-Feb-87 22:06:36 EST
Article-I.D.: kitty.1625
Posted: Sat Feb 28 22:06:36 1987
Date-Received: Sun, 1-Mar-87 17:23:10 EST
References: <962@osiris.UUCP> <1717@hoptoad.uucp> <43093@beno.seismo.CSS.GOV> <8332@decwrl.DEC.COM>
Organization: Recognition Research Corp., Clarence, NY
Lines: 53
Xref: utgpu news.software.b:332 misc.legal:686
Summary: The thought is nice, but ...

In article <8332@decwrl.DEC.COM>, reid@decwrl.DEC.COM (Brian Reid) writes:
> >>I can appreciate the use of a copyright to keep netnews freely available;
> >>however, there is already precedent for this with the mod.sources cookbook,
> >>which is copyrighted by the USENET Community Trust.
> 
> >...which I think is a fabrication.  There is NO legal entity either named, 
> >or doing business as, the USENET Community Trust, is there?
> 
> The USENET Community Trust is a registered DBA in Santa Clara County
> California, proprietor Brian K. Reid (that's me). I spent $70 of my own money
> getting it set up. It exists solely for the purpose of holding the copyright,
> of course, and does not do any business, but as you point out, if the
> organization does not exist the copyright is worthless.

	I can appreciate the efforts of Mr. Reid in trying to make the
"USENET Community Trust" a legal entity; however, he took an action whose
legal significance may be different from what he intended.

	As Brian K. Reid d/b/a USENET Community Trust, Mr. Reid _owns_ the
USENET Community Trust, (at least in Santa Clara County, CA) and therefore
_owns_ the copyright of any software which he distributes under his assumed
name.  From a legal standpoint, this situation is no different than having
a copyright under his own name.

	And this is analogous to the personal copyright by Rick Adams, which
started this whole "tempest in a teapot".

	For all intents and purposes, any attempted enforcement of any
copyright of Usenet news software, whether claimed by Rick Adams, Brian
Reid, or Brian Reid d/b/a USENET Community Trust is impracticable.  Mr. Reid
has spent $ 70.00 for his d/b/a to protect what _should_ be public domain
software from exploitation.  However, to even _begin_ to _enforce_ his
intention will likely cost about 100 times that figure in attorney costs!
 
	Copyrights (and patents, for that matter) "sound" nice on the
surface - until one gets in the real world to enforce them.  As an example,
I hold a number of patents; of them, three British patents (GB2032665B,
GB2112189B, and GB2111277B) and a U.S. patent (4,408,291) are being blatantly
infringed upon at this moment.  What am *I* going to do about that?  Nothing,
for the forseeable future.  I have licensed these patents to a a Fortune 500
corporation who has far more money that I do; what is this corporation going
to do?  Nothing, for the moment, because an enforcement action is not yet
cost-effective and may _never_ be cost-effective...

	Please bear in mind that I am neither putting down nor flaming
either Brian Reid or Rick Adams; I believe they did what they genuinely felt
was in the best interests of the USENET community.  However, I feel that any
effort expended in making any copyright attempt for this purpose is wasted.

<>  Larry Lippman @ Recognition Research Corp., Clarence, New York
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