[wp-hackers] Update your copyright notices today!

[Elliotte Rusty Harold]

Chris Williams wrote:
> Gee, Rusty, I would suggest you read the document I referenced.  It
> specifically discusses what constitutes publication.  Note that "server" and
> "browser" are not mentioned. :)

Irrelevant, and I'm sorry but you are still wrong one every level. I 
hate to be a nag, but I really don't want to see still more fictions 
about copyright law get propagated. The basic requirements of copyright 
law are actually not all that complex, and are certainly within the 
reach of subscribers to this mailing list, provided that they don't 
listen to myth, superstition, and misinformation.

> This is not settled law, and as I noted, printing a date is optional.
> However, deposit is, and I doubt anyone here is meeting that requirement.
> So most of this makes this whole discussion moot, or at least fodder for
> $1000/hour legal teams, not you and I.
> 

It is indeed settled law. There is absolutely nothing in copyright law 
that in any way suggests that mere republication in any form or medium, 
online or off, resets the copyright date.

Furthermore, if you read the document you referenced, you would notice 
that deposit is *NOT* required to maintain one's copyrights. It used to 
be but that hasn't been true for decades now. This is another popular 
superstition about copyright law.

There are some unsettled areas in copyright law, but these just aren't them.

-- 
Elliotte Rusty Harold  elharo at metalab.unc.edu
Java I/O 2nd Edition Just Published!
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