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It's actually free...you own the copyright from the moment of creation. You
should them take the step of registering your copyright, but it's a simple
and cheap matter that you can check out on the Library of Congress website
(URL not available at the moment to this humble scribe).
Where copyright gets interesting is in determining ownership from among
several authors and collaborators, including the company or organization
that commissioned it. If you're an employee, your company owns the
copyright. But if you're a contractor, maybe you own it, maybe your client
does, and maybe you both share it, depending on circumstances. We nail the
matter down by putting a copyright clause right in our work agreements. On
payment of the final invoice, the client gets a signed conveyance of
copyright.
Tim Altom
Simply Written, Inc.
317.899.5882 http://www.simplywritten.com
Creators of the Clustar Method for task-based documentation
-----Original Message-----
From: Gina Hertel <Ghertel -at- ALPHA88 -dot- COM>
To: TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU <TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU>
Date: Friday, May 22, 1998 8:57 AM
Subject: Copyrighting
>Is copyrighting your documentation a multi- thousand dollar expense?
>
>Gina Hertel
>Manager, Technical Communications
>Alpha Technologies, Inc.
>ghertel -at- alpha88 -dot- com
>(732) 980-1800 Ext.749
>
>
>
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