Path: utzoo!dptcdc!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!bloom-beacon!oberon!pollux.usc.edu!papa
From: papa@pollux.usc.edu (Marco Papa)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Copyright
Message-ID: <16577@oberon.USC.EDU>
Date: 17 Apr 89 03:26:29 GMT
References: <13224@louie.udel.EDU> <16573@oberon.USC.EDU> <10021@orstcs.CS.ORST.EDU>
Sender: news@oberon.USC.EDU
Reply-To: papa@pollux.usc.edu (Marco Papa)
Organization: Felsina Software, Los Angeles, CA
Lines: 71

In article <10021@orstcs.CS.ORST.EDU> bob@jacobs.CS.ORST.EDU.UUCP (robert s. richardson) writes:
>In article <13224@louie.udel.EDU> rsine@nswc-wo.arpa (Sine) writes:
>>Copyright Act of 1976 which became effective January 1, 1978.
>>The notice should contain the following three elements:
>>1.  The Copyright symbol (the letter C in a circle), or the word "Copyright",
>>    or the abbreviation "Copr."; and ...
>>Notice that there is no mention of (C) or (c) and one could argue that ...
>
>Sorry to burst your bubble, but the application for copyright form I use
>for my music specifies quite clearly that a (C), (c), and in the case
>of phonorecords (P), (p) is perfectly acceptable.  This adoption of
>the parenthesis around a c has been used since the dawn of the
>typewriter.  So PLEASE, don't try to justify an already tricky legal
>issue on the basis of typography.

Sorry to burst your bubble, dude, but this is a direct quote from "Circular
R61 -- Copyright Registration for Computer Programs" which can be obtained
from the Copyright Office - Library of Congress - Washington, D.C. 20559:

FORM OF COPYRIGHT NOTICE

The notice for visually perceptible copies should contain all of the 
following three elements:

1. The symbol <<non-ACSII symbol omitted>> (the letter C in a circle), or 
the word "Copyright" or the abbreviation "Copr."

2. The year of first publication of the work.

3. The name of the owner of copyright of the work.

-- end of quote

According to copyright law [ 17 USC, Section 401()b)], BOTH (c) and (C) 
are NOT acceptable symbols.  

If you want to read the entire details of the legalese involved in software
copyright notices, please pick up a copy of "How to Copyright Software" by
Attorney M.J. Salone, Legal Editor: Stephen Elias, by NOLO Press, 950 Parker 
St., Berkeley, CA 94710.

Considering that one of the reasons Intel lost the case against NEC was because
of the omission of a "proper" copyright notice, giving out "incorrect" 
information perpetuates "ignorance". The AMIGA is actually in better shape
than other machines, because the topaz ROM font includes the copyright symbol,
and therfore it is very easy to support the following requirement of
Section 201.20(g), 37 C.F.R.:

LOCATION OF COPYRIGHT NOTICE

(g) WORKS REPRODUCED IN MACHINE-READABLE COPIES

... each of the following constitutes examples of acceptable methods 
of affixation and position of notice:
..
(2) A notice that is displayed at the user's terminal at sign on;
(3) A notice that is continuously on terminal display; or
(4) a legible notice reproduced durably, ...securely affixed to the copies or
to a box, reel, cartridge, cassette, or other container used as a permanent 
receptacle for the copies.

-- end of quote

Hopefully this item (which comes up as usual every couple of years or so
on Usenet), can be put to rest quickly.

-- Marco Papa 'Doc'
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
uucp:...!pollux!papa       BIX:papa       ARPAnet:pollux!papa@oberon.usc.edu
 "There's Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Diga!" -- Leo Schwab [quoting Rick Unland]
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=