[CLUE-Talk] Copyright of SCO source code

[Matthew Porter]

standard_disclaimer:  IAAL, but nothing I post here (and nothing
 anyone says on any mailing list!) should be taken as specific
 legal advice.  I'm just engaging in conversation and offering
 some thoughts based upon experience, but not upon any immediate
 research.

On Mon, 21 Jul 2003 21:20:14 -0600
Jeffery Cann <fabian at jefferycann.com> wrote:

> 
> You don't have to file a copy to own a copyright.  Anything
> that you create origionally and put the (c) symbol on it with
> your name constitutes 'copyrighting it'.  Folks will register a
> copyright to help them establish their true ownership.
> 

Quite right. Registration isn't required to have copyright
protection on a work.  However, not having registered may limit
your available legal remedies for infringement, so if you haven't
registered a work already, you'd probably want to register before
filing a lawsuit for copyright infringement.

Also, it isn't strictly necessary to put a copyright notice on
your work in order to have protection, but failing to give notice
may make it easier for an infringer to claim "innocent
infringement" and limit the damages you can collect.

Also, by the way, the commonly used c-in-parenthesis mark has no
official legal recognition  as a copyright notice.  c-in-a-CIRCLE
does, as does writing out "Copyright <year> <full name>."

As for the desposit requirements for copyright registration:
Those requirements still exist, but I believe that for computer
program source code you can deposit just the first and last 20
pages.  It may also be possible to redact anything in the
deposited deposited pages that you claim is a trade secret.

> A trade mark (tm) or service mark (sm) must be registered in
> order to be valid and you cannot legally use the (tm) mark
> unless you have filed it with the Feds.

Actually, it's the R-in-a-circle mark that can't be used unless
your mark is registered with the USPTO.  (the "R" stands for
"Registered."  It's possible (but more difficult) to claim
trademark rights in an unregistered mark, and "TM" can generally
be affixed to indicate a claim of trademark rights to an
unregistered mark, or a mark whose registration is still pending.
(It's also possible that states (or, of course, foreign
countries) might have statutory requirements for using the TM or
SM designations.)

 --Matt.

--------------------
Matthew F. Porter
Golden, Colorado

mfporter at c-creature.com