[wp-hackers] Update your copyright notices today!

Elliotte Rusty Harold elharo at metalab.unc.edu
Tue Jan 1 16:34:59 GMT 2008


Chris Williams wrote:
> Copyright is not the date of creation, it is the date of "publication" [1].
> Many works get their copyright renewed with each new republication (see much
> of Disney's material).
> 
> Arguably, a WP page is "published" each time it is generated for the user.
> But this has not been legally tested and such display could be considered
> simply "public performance" (see [1], and the section "publication").
> 

I'm sorry, but that's not even close to the law. Copyright does not 
reset each time a CD is burned or a book printed. Nor does it reset each 
time a web page is sent from a server to a browser.

Disney's works are not renewed with each rerelease. New material, not 
previously published, may be newly copyrighted with a new release. Old 
material still has its original date of publication. Disney has spent 
big dollars bribing Congress to extend the term of copyright protection 
because of this. otherwise a lot of the early Disney material would now 
be in the public domain.

-- 
Elliotte Rusty Harold  elharo at metalab.unc.edu
Java I/O 2nd Edition Just Published!
http://www.cafeaulait.org/books/javaio2/
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0596527500/ref=nosim/cafeaulaitA/


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