Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!seismo!sundc!pitstop!sun!decwrl!labrea!jade!ucbcad!ames!necntc!adelie!munsell!klm From: klm@munsell.UUCP (Kevin (with the fiberglass reinforced left foot) McBride) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: PostScript printer.device Message-ID: <1326@atkins.munsell.UUCP> Date: Thu, 29-Oct-87 09:45:30 EST Article-I.D.: atkins.1326 Posted: Thu Oct 29 09:45:30 1987 Date-Received: Wed, 4-Nov-87 03:37:48 EST References: <16026@topaz.rutgers.edu> Reply-To: klm@atkins.UUCP (Kevin (with the fiberglass reinforced left foot) McBride) Followup-To: /dev/null Organization: The Law Offices of Write'em, Post'em and Lose'em. Lines: 84 Keywords: postscript printer device Summary: ignorance is costly Please note - I am not trying to start another software Copyright flame war, but here is yet another example of how to lose your ownership of something you wrote due to ignorance of the Copyright law. In article <16026@topaz.rutgers.edu> lachac@topaz.rutgers.edu (Gerard Lachac) posts a postscript printer device that someone else wrote. I am not flaming at you Gerard, I am flaming at Chris and at the same time trying to remind all you hackers out there how to protect your works (if you want them protected, that is.) The only way to make absolutely sure that your work is protected under the law is to enlist the aid of an attorney. I'm not an attorney, but I have been through this before, so I know a little bit about it. This is the "Copyright" notice in the readme file of the shar: > >The postscript printer device included in this archive is Copyrighted >by Integrated Systems Inc., 1987. All rights are reserved. It is put >in the public domain for use by anyone for non-commercial use only. > Sorry, you lose. First you say that it's "Copyrighted." It's really supposed to be just "Copyright." Minor technicality, but it could be important, i.e. a good lawyer could rip it to shreds in court. Next you say "All rights are reserved." Ok, fine. I can live with that. I get a lot of software that is Copyright protected. I'm not a pirate. In fact, I copyright software that I write. (except for software that I write for my employer... they own the copyrights to that.) The last statement in this notice is in complete contradiction to the rest of the notice, rendering the whole thing completely bogus. Public Domain, eh? Don't want me to use it for commercial purposes, eh? Suck eggs, pal!! As soon as you included the words "public domain" in your software you gave it to me, free and clear. Well, it wasn't exactly free. It arrived at my site postage due in the form of next month's phone bill for our UUCP line. Thanks a lot! I can do anything I damn well please with your software, including selling it for profit. I'm not going to do that, because I'm basically a decent person, but that doesn't mean that somebody with the ethics of a slug or the morals of Jim Bakker isn't going to. Copyright notices like the one included in the postscript printer driver are not only completely ineffective, but they can be kind of embarassing too. Everybody knows that you didn't do your homework. I know that this has been bashed about before, and I apologize for wasting net bandwidth, but it still can't be said enough: "If you want to protect your rights in your creation, make DAMN sure that you KNOW what your rights are and that you KNOW how to invoke them." Summary: "Copyright" and "public domain" are mutually exclusive terms. Always have been, always will be. Note that the copyright notice below does not restrict distribution for profit. That would legally prevent sites such as UUNET, The Portal System, Compuserve and others from distributing it because they charge users for connect time. If I placed that restriction, Compuserve would be breaking the law if they let you read it. I am placing the restriction that it be distributed in whole only. That means that you can't use excerpts from this article in posting a followup without my explicit consent. This article is Copyright 1987 by Kevin L. McBride. The author hereby gives permission to distribute it's content, in whole only, via any electronic mail system, bulletin board, or other computer network. It may not be copied in part or in any other way used out of the original context without the express written consent of the author. Further permission is granted to recipients of this article to produce a hard copy of said article for archive purposes only. All other rights are reserved. -- Kevin McBride, the guy in the cast // | Your mind is totally controlled Raquetball - the only way to // | It has been stuffed into my mold ruin your ski season :-( \\ // Amiga | And you will do as you are told {encore,adelie}!munsell!klm \\// Rules! | until the rights to you are sold