Computer rights

[Smokey Lynne L Bare <slbare -at- JUNO -dot- COM>]

.....for your approval...


Any publication of a work (before it is protected under the copyright
law)
makes it *public domain*. This means both sending it out on the Internet,
and/or
copying it for people to read on paper.  (Case in point - copy machines
in libraries.)  The correct thing to do is to put a Copyright notice on
the work EACH and EVERY time it is published.

That is, the Copyright symbol, the year, and the author's name. The form
for registering
the work can be obtained from the national Copyright office. There is a
small fee for
doing this. You don't have to file the form before you publish the work,
as long as the notice is on it (much like the statement  - patent
pending).

The second problem is the Internet itself. Once something is published on
it, it is very hard to monitor what happens to it.  It is possible
someone else could use it even though there is a Copyright notice on it.

An attorney I work with (specializing in symbol-marked materials and
writer contracts) suggests writers follow procedures using the copyright
rules, but to consider publishing the article (on the net) for the
purpose of becoming recognized as an authority in a field, or as
a good writer.  Basically, writers need to recognize that protecting it
once it is out there is a very, very time consuming and costly venture.



live from the frozen bare's den.......

Smokey

	http://www.documentation.com/, or http://www.dejanews.com/