Re: Computer rights

[Tracy Boyington <tracy_boyington -at- OKVOTECH -dot- ORG>]

Smokey Lynne L Bare wrote:

> 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.

Well, no. In fact, the opposite is true -- once you "publish" a work
(and for copyright purposes, "publish" simply means to put in a
permanent form), it is protected by copyright. Your works will
automatically become public domain after a certain number of years, not
as soon as you publish them.

> The form
> for registering the work can be obtained from the national Copyright office.
> There is a small fee for doing this.

Registering/paying the fee is optional. Your work is still protected
*even if you do not register.* Registering simply gives you more
options. IIRC, if your work is not registered you can only make the
violator of your copyright stop using your material, but if you are
registered you can sue for monetary damages. I could be wrong here. But
I DO know that you do not have to register or pay any amount of money
for your works to be copyrighted. It's automatic.

This is in the US... I don't know if it's different in other nations.
Tracy
--
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Tracy Boyington   tracy_boyington -at- okvotech -dot- org
Oklahoma Department of Vocational and Technical Education
Stillwater, OK, USA
http://www.okvotech.org/cimc/home.htm
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