Written by Matthias Kahlert, mkahlert@kagi.com
http://www.GeoCities.com/SiliconValley/Pines/8031/index.htm
| Yes! It is legal! |
Yes, it is legal to copyright an application.
Under the Berne convention, copyright is granted to you by default the moment you create something. Everything you write is your intelectual property, your copyright. It is automatically granted once you fix any creative expression. Registration allows you to claim higher damages, and aids in thwarting infringment.
The copyright text is simply a reminder of that to others, a way to make sure that they can't try to weasle out of court by saying "oh, but it didn't say 'copyright' anywhere, so I had reason to believe that it was in the public domain".
| What about the Laws? |
The laws vary from country to country, and in the U.S. in particular you need to be careful.
In the UK and most european countries as far as I know you own copyright by default when you create something, unless it is explicitly assigned elsewhere as in a contract of employment for example. You don't need to declare your copyright to retain it in these countries, but you should...
In the U.S. it is my understanding that in order not to loose your copyright you must ensure that every copy you distribute clearly declares your copyright. If you don't take these measures you risk being unable to take action against people copying your software without permission.
| Copyright Offices |
Why should you then register your copyright at an official copyright office?
Because it makes it easier to prove that you are the copyright holder, and to attach a date to the fact in case somebody claims to have created the thing before you did, whereafter you snatched it and put your own copyright text on it (which would of course be illegal!). A formal registration provides you an additional protection against infringement.
| Other Possibilities |
Adding the copyright message cannot demonstrate that the program is really yours (I could steal somebody else code and say it's mine). A cheap way to solve this is to go to the notary office and deposit a copy of your program. In case of problems the notary office can proof the date you developed the application.
| Annotations |
Do you have any new ideas or aspects? Please let me know. Just send an e-mail to mkahlert@kagi.com.