> Can someone please suggest a valid copyright notice to place
> into my FAQ? Currently I have none whatsoever, and this
> discussion convinces me I should have one. I gather that
>
> Copyright (c) 1997.
>
> is not the best. Should it be
>
> Copyright (c) 1997, [my name].
>
> Who holds the copyright?
You hold the copyright to 1) the parts you've written; and 2) the
compilation as a whole, regardless of who wrote the individual
contributions. The individual contributors, if any, hold the copyright to
their respectiev contributions.
A "copyright notice", strictly speaking, is nothing more than the
following three things:
1. one of the following:
(a) the word "copyright";
(b) the abbreviation "Copr."; or
(c) the C-in-a-circle symbol;
2. the year of first publication; and
3. the name of the copyright owner.
In addition to a copyright notice, many people put in a limited license or
waiver allowing some distribution. That's not really part of the
copyright notice, but a lot of people call it that.
Here's what I have in my Copyright FAQ. This may not be applicable to you
because 1) may FAQ is writen entirely by me, with no contributions from
anyone else, so I don't have to worry about contributors, and 2) quite
frankly, I don't think it's the world greatest license (e.g., what the
hell is a "commercial document"?). I would make it very different today.
DISCLAIMER - PLEASE READ.
This article is Copyright 1994 by Terry Carroll. It may be freely
redistributed in its entirety provided that this copyright notice is
not removed. It may not be sold for profit or incorporated in
commercial documents without the written permission of the copyright
holder. Permission is expressly granted for this document to be made
available for file transfer from installations offering unrestricted
anonymous file transfer on the Internet. Permission is further
granted for this document to be made available for file transfer in
the data libraries of associated with the following Compuserve
Information Services fora: the Legal Forum, the Desktop Publishing
Forum, the Show Business Forum, and the Ideas, Invention & Innovation
Forum. This article is provided as is without any express or implied
warranty. Nothing in this article represents the views of Santa Clara
University or of the Santa Clara Computer and High Technology Law
Journal.
While all information in this article is believed to be correct at
the time of writing, this article is for educational purposes only
and does not purport to provide legal advice. If you require legal
advice, you should consult with a legal practitioner licensed to
practice in your jurisdiction.
-- Terry Carroll | "The invention provides means for continuously Santa Clara, CA | trapping sparrows and supplying a cat and carroll@tjc.com | neighborhood cats with a supply of sparrows." Modell delenda est | - U.S. Patent no. 4,150,505