In article <34B97C6E.F331133B@xxxxxxxx>, you wrote:
>John Saeger wrote:
>>
>> Maybe the copyrights on the original 2600 game cartridges have expired by
>> now. The original games weren't software, they were game cartridges
>
>Depends... Have any of the authors been dead 75 years yet?
~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~
Current copyright law is life+50, not life +75. This applies to anything
created after 1982.
For things created after 1972 and between 1982 copyright is 50 years plus
it's renewable for another 25 years.
>From 1950-1972 the copyright is 28 years plus renewable for another 28 years.
Before 1950 copyright was just 28 years.
Before 1982 there were no provisions in the copyright law for the protection
of software. Software was considered by many to be a "usable object"
(meaning a tool, like a hammer or widget calibrator) and not a creative
work so to protect software developers from piracey changes were made
to the copyright act in 1982 to include protection for software.
Before the act of 1972, anything that didn't have (c) 19xx on it was
not copyrighted. After 1972, creators were given 5 years from the date
of creation to affix a copyright notice to the work or it would
be considered public domain. In 1985 an amendment was made to the
copyright law that no longer required a work to have a copyright notice
attatched to it. All you had to do was be able to prove the date of
creation. However, in US copyright law, if you wish to be able to sue
for copyright infringement your copyright must be registered.
(If it's unregistered you can still sue to have unathorized duplication
halted, but you won't be able to sue for financual compensation).
It's always a good idea to register your copyright if you're very
serious about perserving the integrity of your copyright. Without a
registered copyright it can be virtually impossible to prove you created
the work first (especially if the person who is pirating your work has
registered a copyright for it. Then you're pretty much screwed. There have
been cases involving musicians where one musician has stolen another's work
but since they registered the copyright for it, the true creator
was screwed. It's extremely difficult to get the courts to recognize you're
the rightful owner of a work when it has been registered by someone else).
Copyright law is not retroactive. That means something created in 1935
wouldn't be renewable when the copyright laws changed in 1950. It also
means that a record created in 1965 but released without a
copyright notice would still be public domain even though the law
changed in 1985 to no longer require a copyright notice to appear on a work.
The statute of limitation on copyright violation is 3 years. If a work is
pirated and not dicovered for 3 years or the copyright owner takes no
legal actions to stop it within that time , then there is nothing the
copyright owner can do about it
And that is a brief synopsis of some of the interesting parts of copyright
law.
CRACKERS
(There are a few variations between Canada and USA copyright law from hell!!!)
--
Accordionist - Wethifl Musician - Atari 2600 Collector | /\/\
*NEW CrAB URL* http://www.hwcn.org/~ad329/crab.html ***| \^^/
Bira Bira Devotee - FES Member - Samurai Pizza Cats Fan| =\/=
--
Stella list is Administered by krishna@xxxxxxxxxxxx <Glenn Saunders>
Archives (includes files) at http://www.biglist.com/lists/stella/archives/
Unsub & more at http://www.biglist.com/lists/stella/stella.html
+-shameless plugs-------------------------------------------------------+
| Stella documentary at http://www.primenet.com/~krishna |
| Nick's VCS links via http://www.primenet.com/~nickb/atariprg.htm |
| Write the best game, win framed autographs of famous Atari alumni!! |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
