Question about copyright lines

[Segin]

Daniel Remenak wrote:

>On 3/3/06, Segin <segin2005 at gmail.com> wrote:
>  
>
>>Aric Cyr wrote:
>>
>>    
>>
>>>Marcus Meissner <meissner <at> suse.de> writes:
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>      
>>>
>>>>On Fri, Mar 03, 2006 at 03:20:48PM +0100, Stefan D�singer wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>        
>>>>
>>>>>Hello,
>>>>>At the top of every fine there's are some "Copyright <year> <name>" lines,
>>>>>listing the persons who have contributed to a file, and when. Are there any
>>>>>specifc rules about that?
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>          
>>>>>
>>If you reverse the name and year, the copyright is invalid and
>>unenforcable in the United States and many European states.
>>
>>    
>>
>
>In the United States and the United Kingdom, that is certainly not
>true, and probably not in any other Berne Convention country ("Since
>the Berne Convention prohibits formal requirements that affect the
>"exercise and enjoyment" of the copyright, the United States changed
>its law on March 1, 1989, to make the use of a copyright notice
>optional.").  See http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ03.pdf and
>http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl100.html for the United States, and
>http://www.patent.gov.uk/copy/indetail/copyclaim.htm and
>http://www.intellectual-property.gov.uk/faq/copyright/index.htm for
>the UK.
>
>"The use of a copyright notice is no longer required under U.S. law,
>although it is often beneficial." (circ03)  "Although a few countries
>require that a work be marked with the international (c) mark followed
>by the name of the copyright owner and year of publication, this is
>not essential in most countries, including the UK." (copyclaim) "All
>the Western European countries, the USA and Russia belong to the Berne
>Convention which does not even require your work to be marked in any
>way for automatic protection to apply." (copyright faq)
>
>In the U.S., "The notice for visually perceptible copies should
>contain three elements. They should appear together or in close
>proximity on the copies. The elements are:
>1 The symbol (c) (the letter C in a circle), or the word "Copyright,"
>or the abbreviation "Copr."; and
>2 The year of first publication...and...
>3 The name of the owner of copyright in the work, or an abbreviation
>by which the name can be recognized, or a generally known alternative
>designation of the owner." (circ03)
>
>The elements just need to be in "close proximity" for the notice to be
>valid...and the notice itself is not strictly necessary for copyright
>protection, it's just useful for the lawyers if it gets challenged. 
>(e.g. "There may still be instances, such as the defense of innocent
>infringement, where the question of proper notice may be a factor in
>assessing damages in infringement actions...The omission of notice
>does not affect the copyright protection,
>and no corrective steps are required if the work was published on or
>after March 1, 1989." (fl100)).
>
>For protection in countries which are signatories to the UCC but NOT
>the Berne Convention (I don't know of any offhand), the year and name
>do need to be in a specific order, AND you must also include the
>C-in-a-circle symbol (c).  "To guarantee protection for a copyrighted
>work in all UCC member countries, the notice must consist of the
>symbol (c) (the word "Copyright" or the abbreviation are not
>acceptable), the year of first publication, and the name of the
>copyright proprietor." (circ03)
>
>Disclaimer: This message does not constitute legal advice.
>
>--Daniel Remenak
>
>  
>
Ok, but you still need to put the copyright year/holder's name in a 
certain order, as your last paragraph said.  Just not nessessrary for 
most countries.

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