[Foundation-l] Authoring on wikijunior : providing private information.
Robert Scott Horning
robert_horning at netzero.net
Sun Oct 9 03:31:53 UTC 2005
Lars Aronsson wrote:
>Robert Scott Horning wrote:
>
>
>
>>In addition, one of the reasons I asked for this information is
>>that I intend to do a formal copyright registration on
>>Wikijunior books when I send them into print format.
>>
>>
>
>To avoid further confusion, it should be pointed out that this
>"copyright registration" is something that only exists in the
>United States. Earlier (before 1978) the U.S. had a copyright
>law that required copyrights to be registered, much like patents
>work in other countries. If you didn't register, anybody could
>claim copyright to your text. The registration was not made at
>the patent office, but at the U.S. Copyright Office, which is a
>part of the Library of Congress, www.copyright.gov
>
>
As a bit of history and as a U.S. Citizen, I think the policy to not
compel registration for copyright enforcement is a bad policy and
contrary to the intents and wishes of the authors of the founding
documents of the American Republic. More over, when something was
registered, you at least had an address to look up to try and trace
authorship of a given piece of copyrighted material. As it is now, you
have no clue if something is copyrighted unless it is very old, and even
then you have some serious doubts. For those of us who try in good
faith to preserve older texts or are using materials from public
sources, this can get to be a real mess. I understand other countries
have different policies and customs, but in this case it was a custom
from outside of America that was forced on the American courts by well
thinking but short-sighted people. Of course, that is just my opinion
and a rather small voice at that.
The other motivation for requiring registration back elsewhen was to
establish a library for the members of the U.S. Congress. It was
started with a donation of books from Thomas Jefferson, but most
subsequent volumes in the library were from this registration system.
As a result, a significant portion of American and world history has
been preserved in this library, which is arguably one of the primier
libraries of the world. Most mass-market volumes are still registered
for additional copyright protections that are not available from the
defacto copyright.
As an author, copyright registration also gives legal proof that you
wrote the content. The fact that you filed it with the Library of
Congress is legal proof that the stuff is indeed yours and not somebody
elses, or they have to provide legal proof that they wrote it prior to
the date that you filed. For things like books this isn't so big of a
deal, but computer software can be a little tricky in that regard and a
copyright filing can be used in part to invalidate a software patent,
for example.
--
Robert Scott Horning
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