20 Mar
2007
20 Mar
'07
11:06 a.m.
On 20 Mar 2007 at 12:31, Jules Richardson wrote:
Copyright law's murky at best and varies wildly
from country to country. It's
another reason I'd aim for a distributed archive as even if one particular
corner's hit by copyright problems it *shouldn't* take out the entire archive
(with all the content that *is* OK to distribute).
As an author writing code in a given country, it would be my
expectation that said code (or documentation) would be protected with
the laws of that country.
In regard to copyright, it's generally a safe bet that copyright is
good for a minimum of 70 years after publication--and probably longer
if you're talking about a WTO country. This is long enough that ANY
computer literature or programs that have been published are under
copyright protection. Being out of print or distrubution is not a
legal excuse for violating copyright--not for some old article from
Byte magazine, or an old Karl King march or a computer program.
It is always the most prudent action to ASK if something may be
posted. It's important when asking to observe that you are not
asking the copyright owner to put things in the public domain, but
simply to agree to an alternate distribution method. His (or any
appropriate pronoun here) rights still are in force and infringement
may still be prosecuted. Offering to add an explicit copyright
notice to the posted material might improve the odds of success.,
And if the copyright holder refuses, it's prudent to respect that
wish--period. You didn't create the material, you don't own it and
attaching a label such as "abandonware" doesn't put you on any higher
legal ground.
I'm assuming that before Al puts something up on bitsavers, he makes
some sort of effort to get an okay from the copyright holder before
posting. At least I hope he does.
Cheers,
Chuck