Re: TI-82 Mac users only

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Re: TI-82 Mac users only

You can find the U.S. Copyright Office Home Page at
http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/

The quoted copyright information is from
http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/circs/circ01.html

> >1. the word means, the RIGHT to COPY. only the author or people who
> >have written consent from the author have the right to copy.
>
> However, to put a LEGAL copyright on your code, game, etc., you must file
> with the U.S. government (or the government of your nation).  Therefore,
> without getting a legal copyright, your source, game, and everything else
> can (legally) be used without giving you credit.

[snip]
   WHO CAN CLAIM COPYRIGHT
     _________________________________________________________________

   Copyright protection subsists from the time the work is created in
   fixed form; that is, it is an incident of the process of authorship.
   The copyright in the work of authorship immediately becomes the
   property of the author who created it. Only the author or those
   deriving their rights through the author can rightfully claim
   copyright.

[...]
   Copyright Secured Automatically Upon Creation

   The way in which copyright protection is secured under the present law
   is frequently misunderstood. No publication or registration or other
   action in the Copyright Office is required to secure copyright (see
   following NOTE). There are, however, certain definite advantages to
   registration.
[snip]

Sounds like you get a "LEGAL" copyright on your work as soon as it is created.

[snip]
   For works first published on and after March 1, 1989, use of the
   copyright notice is optional, though highly recommended. Before March
   1, 1989, the use of the notice was mandatory on all published works,
   and any work first published before that date must bear a notice or
   risk loss of copyright protection.
[snip]

Sounds like the work is copyrighted even if it bears no copyright notice.

[snip]
   The use of the copyright notice is the responsibility of the copyright
   owner and does not require advance permission from, or registration
   with, the Copyright Office.
[snip]

Sounds like I can put a notice on it anyway, without registering, just for
kicks.

> >2. Anything ever made is copyrighted. A copyright notice helps, and an
> >application to the copyrights office helps even more. However, the
> >only difference it makes is the amount of money you get as
> >compensation in a court case.
>
> WRONG!  You can say something is copyrighted but you can't bring the issue
> to court if you haven't registered the copyright with the U.S. government
> (at least U.S. regulations require you to do so).  A copyright costs money,
> so most people don't bother with the time consuming process of doing it
> especially for cheap games for the TI-xx calc series.

[snip]
   Use of the notice is recommended because it informs the public that
   the work is protected by copyright, identifies the copyright owner,
   and shows the year of first publication. Furthermore, in the event
   that a work is infringed, if the work carries a proper notice, the
   court will not allow a defendant to claim "innocent
   infringement"--that is, that he or she did not realize that the work
   is protected. (A successful innocent infringement claim may result in
   a reduction in damages that the copyright owner would otherwise
   receive.)
[snip]

Sounds like they are talking about damages you might receive from having a
work infriged upon that bore no copyright notice.

[snip]
   In general, copyright registration is a legal formality intended to
   make a public record of the basic facts of a particular copyright.
   However, except in one specific situation,* registration is not a
   condition of copyright protection. [*Under sections 405 and 406 of the
   Copyright Act, copyright registration may be required to preserve a
   copyright on a work first published before March 1, 1989, that would
   otherwise be invalidated because the copyright notice was omitted from
   the published copies or phonorecords, or the name or year was omitted,
   or certain errors were made in the year date.]
[snip]

Sounds like "registration is not a condition of copyright protection".
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