4 ms·

By the way, it is widespread a myth that (c) is an acceptable replacement for the copyright symbol or the word "copyright". That is, it makes for an invalid cop

by Isamu 7y ago

By the way, it is widespread a myth that (c) is an acceptable replacement for the copyright symbol or the word "copyright". That is, it makes for an invalid copyright notice, BUT IT DOES NOT INVALIDATE YOUR COPYRIGHT, which is automatic anyway (in the US.) It is optional (in the US) to provide a valid notice, but if you really want the extra benefits of a copyright notice, the notice must conform to the copyright law. Note that outside of the US, a proper notice may be required, not optional.

billpg 7y ago
Random aside... The 80s BBC Micro required that ROM-based software included a copyright message using "(C)" in the header. The OS would look for those three ASCII bytes in the right place and ignore the ROM if it wasn't there.
- luzjh 7y ago
  I don't remember the exact details but a console of the 90s did something similar, but it was challenged in court and they lost
  - bitwize 7y ago
    The Sega Genesis required the string "SEGA" to be somewhere in ROM. They tried to use this to gatekeep development for the system by threatening to sue any unlicensed third-party developers for trademark infringement. They were, after all, forced to use the "SEGA" mark if they wanted their game to run. A federal appeals court ruled, in Sega v. Accolade, that you can't use a trademark that way. They also ruled that you can copy and reverse-engineer a piece of software to determine functional aspects of the console's operation for interoperability purposes. It's perfectly legal to require a string somewhere in the header before booting a ROM or running a program. (Otherwise, "magic number" checks to determine if a program is in executable format would be illegal!) The Sega case was specifically about using trademarks and copyright to restrict access to functional aspects of your hardware.
    - coldpie 7y ago
      The Gameboy did similar. For some odd reason they only verified the top half of the logo, though, so some devs got creative http://fuji.drillspirits.net/?post=87 http://fuji.drillspirits.net/?post=87 Technical details here: https://catskull.net/gameboy-boot-screen-logo.html https://catskull.net/gameboy-boot-screen-logo.html
- Isamu 7y ago
  Heh. Yeah, it goes way, way back. I remember discussing this back then too.
chipotle_coyote 7y ago
The "(C)" is not a myth; it was explicitly listed as an acceptable variant of the copyright symbol by the US Copyright office in both the 1909 and 1976 copyright acts, e.g.: https://www.copyright.gov/history/comp/compendium-one.pdf https://www.copyright.gov/history/comp/compendium-one.pdf It was used pretty frequently in not only typewritten material but in a lot of computer software before the © symbol was widely available in fonts.
- jkaplowitz 7y ago
  It's a myth as applied to current law, since Section 401 of the current Copyright Act does not allow that variant any more. As the previous commenter said, publishing something in the US with an invalid copyright notice still grants US copyright since the US adoption of the Berne Convention in the late 1980s, but it does withhold the extra optional legal benefits which the notice provides.

by Isamu 7y ago

billpg 7y ago

Random aside... The 80s BBC Micro required that ROM-based software included a copyright message using "(C)" in the header. The OS would look for those three ASCII bytes in the right place and ignore the ROM if it wasn't there.

luzjh 7y ago
I don't remember the exact details but a console of the 90s did something similar, but it was challenged in court and they lost
- bitwize 7y ago
  The Sega Genesis required the string "SEGA" to be somewhere in ROM. They tried to use this to gatekeep development for the system by threatening to sue any unlicensed third-party developers for trademark infringement. They were, after all, forced to use the "SEGA" mark if they wanted their game to run. A federal appeals court ruled, in Sega v. Accolade, that you can't use a trademark that way. They also ruled that you can copy and reverse-engineer a piece of software to determine functional aspects of the console's operation for interoperability purposes. It's perfectly legal to require a string somewhere in the header before booting a ROM or running a program. (Otherwise, "magic number" checks to determine if a program is in executable format would be illegal!) The Sega case was specifically about using trademarks and copyright to restrict access to functional aspects of your hardware.
  - coldpie 7y ago
    The Gameboy did similar. For some odd reason they only verified the top half of the logo, though, so some devs got creative http://fuji.drillspirits.net/?post=87 http://fuji.drillspirits.net/?post=87 Technical details here: https://catskull.net/gameboy-boot-screen-logo.html https://catskull.net/gameboy-boot-screen-logo.html
Isamu 7y ago
Heh. Yeah, it goes way, way back. I remember discussing this back then too.

chipotle_coyote 7y ago

The "(C)" is not a myth; it was explicitly listed as an acceptable variant of the copyright symbol by the US Copyright office in both the 1909 and 1976 copyright acts, e.g.: https://www.copyright.gov/history/comp/compendium-one.pdf https://www.copyright.gov/history/comp/compendium-one.pdf It was used pretty frequently in not only typewritten material but in a lot of computer software before the © symbol was widely available in fonts.

jkaplowitz 7y ago
It's a myth as applied to current law, since Section 401 of the current Copyright Act does not allow that variant any more. As the previous commenter said, publishing something in the US with an invalid copyright notice still grants US copyright since the US adoption of the Berne Convention in the late 1980s, but it does withhold the extra optional legal benefits which the notice provides.