From: terry@cs.weber.edu (A Wizard of Earth C)
Subject: Re: BSDI lawsuit
Keywords: copyright, notice
Organization: Weber State University  (Ogden, UT)
Distribution: inet
Date: Tue, 29 Dec 92 17:54:58 GMT

In article <1992Dec29.063742.22155@hellgate.utah.edu> hollaar%basset.utah.edu@cs.utah.edu (Lee Hollaar) writes:
>In article <1ho55fINN731@ftp.UU.NET> sef@Kithrup.COM (Sean Eric Fagan) writes:
>>In article <1ho25nINNm7n@usenet.INS.CWRU.Edu> edguer@ces.cwru.edu (Aydin Edguer) writes:
>>>So USL is claiming copyright violations.
>>
>>The 32V code that the university started out from was not copyrighted.
>>(No explicit copyright notice, and it was done before the US said that
>>things were automatically copyrighted.)
>>So they would probably lose a copyright charge.
>
>Not quite so simple.  It depends on two facts -- when was the code first
>fixed in a tangible medium and whether the code was published.  Publication
>generally means sale or other transfer of ownership, rental, lease, or
>lending.  It would probably not be code licensed with restrictions on
>further distribution.
>
>Before the effective date of the Copyright Act of 1976 (January 1, 1978),
>the prior federal copyright act covered only published works, and required
>notice on the work at the time it was published or copyright was lost.
>Unpublished works were covered by state copyright laws (generally common
>law rather than statutory law).
[ ... ]
>The Copyright Act of 1976 changed all this.  "Copyright protection
>subsists ... in original works of authorship fixed in any tangible
>medium ..." (Section 102)  No notice is required, and state copyright
>laws on unpublished works are preempted by the federal law (Section 301).
>The notice requirement before the Berne amendments in 1988 read
>"Whenever a work protected by copyright under this title is *published*
>in the United States ... a notice of copyright shall be placed on
>*publically distributed* copies ..." (Section 401)  Note that the
>requirement is only for published works, and only on the publically
>distributed copies.
>
>So, if 32V is an unpublished work, it is likely protected either under
>state copyright law (if written prior to 1978) or federal law, even if
>it has no notice.

From Websters:
] pub.lish \'p*b-lish\ \-*-b*l\ vb [ME publishen, modif. of MF publier, fr. L 
]    publicare, fr. ]publicus 1a: to make generally known 1b: to make public 
]    announcement of obs  2: ADVERTISE 3a: to place before the public : 
]    DISSEMINATE 3b: to produce or release for publication; specif : PRINT 3c: 
]    to issue the work of (an author) 1: to put out an edition 2: to have one's 
]    work accepted for publication {a ~ing scholar} - pub.lish.able aj

Was 32V published?  Under 1a, 3b(produce), and 3c.1, it seems an argument
could be made.

What are the pre 01 Jan 78 protections provided by the stae of California,
and were the statuatory terms met by the 32V distribution?


					Terry Lambert
					terry@icarus.weber.edu
---
Any opinions in this posting are my own and not those of my present
or previous employers.
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