Re. A few notes on copyright

[geoff-h -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA]

     Bob Armao summarized some points raised at an STC conference session
     on copyright. All important points, but I'd like to elaborate further:

     1. The act of publishing establishes copyright and the circled-C
     symbol isn't necessary: Both are true, but that's not the whole story.
     If you don't _register_ your copyright and use the word "copyright"
     followed by the year, you forego the rights to certain statutory
     damages. The circled-C symbol isn't legally recognized.

     2. The desire to profit from the infringement has little to do with
     copyright: Exactly right. Although few agencies would successfully sue
     Mother Theresa for using their works without permission, a court won't
     consider your good intentions as an acceptable defence.

     3. Fair use: If you personally haven't provided substantial
     intellectual input into the final document, it's not fair use.

     4. No such thing as international copyright: Any country that is a
     signatory of the Berne or Universal copyright conventions follows very
     similar rules for copyright, and respects the copyrights of citizens
     of other signatory nations. Unfortunately, not all countries signed
     this treaty.

     5. Expressions, not ideas themselves, are copyrighted: This is what
     lets you write a term paper or op-ed piece using (for ex.) an
     encyclopedia as your source of information. It's still unethical not
     to cite the source of your information, but as long as you provide
     substantial input (i.e., don't just change the adjectives to ones you
     like better), you're usually safe.

     6. The expression must be recorded permanently: Although mostly true,
     this rule of thumb has significant limits. For example, you can't
     record a rock concert just because you know that the concert isn't
     being recorded to produce an album. Even if the material isn't
     recorded permanently (e.g., you quote someone's speech), various other
     laws (e.g., libel, fraud, misrepresentation) apply to how you use the
     nonpermanent words.

     7. Trademarks are for names, copyright is for larger works. Yes, let's
     not get into that... <grin>

 --Geoff Hart     @8^{)}     geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca
 Disclaimer: Speaking for myself, not FERIC.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Post Message:	TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
Get Commands:	LISTSERV -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU with "help" in body.
Unsubscribe:	LISTSERV -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU with "signoff TECHWR-L"
Listowner:	ejray -at- ionet -dot- net