RE: copyright
- From: dean@[redacted]
- Subject: RE: copyright
- Date: Wed, 2 May 2001 14:48:53 -0400
Amazingly enough, it is actually against the law to falsely claim
copyright in a work. The reference is United States Code, Title 17,
Section 506(c):
(c) Fraudulent Copyright Notice. - Any person who, with fraudulent
intent, places on any article a notice of copyright or words of the same
purport that such person knows to be false, or who, with fraudulent
intent, publicly distributes or imports for public distribution any
article bearing such notice or words that such person knows to be false,
shall be fined not more than $2,500.
However, Scott Fishman, in his book "The Public Domain" points out that
this part of the law is totally ignored. Perhaps it would be useful to
try to push back on those who falsely claim copyright in public domain
works.
-- Dean Krafft
[Moderator: For more on this, see page 2/9 of Stephen Fishman's
_The Public Domain_ (first edition, Nolo Press, 2001). This is
overall a very useful book for getting detailed information on copyright
and public domain status in the US. (And yes, I'd still think that even
if the author hadn't given me a copy :-) - JMO]