RE: [dvd-discuss] Bunner wins DeCSS trade secret appeal

[Richard Hartman <hartman(at)onetouch.com>]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Noah silva [mailto:nsilva@atari-source.com]
> Sent: Monday, November 05, 2001 2:00 PM
> To: dvd-discuss@eon.law.harvard.edu
> Subject: Re: [dvd-discuss] Bunner wins DeCSS trade secret appeal
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On Mon, 5 Nov 2001, Michael A Rolenz wrote:
> 
> > The problem with the concept that it's copyrighted as soon as it is 
> > written down is that nobody know that. In physics if it 
> can't be observed 
> > it isn't "physical". Ditto for copyright.  It's also hard 
> to argue that 
> > the full range of copyright protection should be extended 
> to private 
> > scribblings. Now maybe a use for the UTSA would be to 
> prosecute somebody 
> > who steals a manuscript using it.
> 
> nobody argues that.. which is why I restrict my use of the term
> "copyright" to mean "registered copyright".  Even if you 
> _can_ prove you
> wrote it down first, your legal rights are greatly diminished 
> if it wasn't
> a registered copyright.  The main purpose to register copyright is to
> provide public proof that you are the author.  As soon as you publish
> something with no copyright notice, it loses any copyright status.  

Not so.  You have to explicitly release rights to the public
domain ... and that is in itself a copyright "status".  Writings
are automatically covered by basic copyright protection, with
or without notice, since the signing of the Berne convention.
(Unless you are in a country that has not signed ...)



-- 
-Richard M. Hartman
hartman@onetouch.com

186,000 mi./sec ... not just a good idea, it's the LAW!