Quote:
Originally Posted by DMcCunney
Yep. Every book in creation issued since copyright became common will have a copyright notice and date.
But the mere presence of a copyright notice does not mean the work is illegally posted. See the Baen Free Library, or any of the stuff offered under a Creative Commons license.
Not to mention the fact that Mr. Pirate could easily strip copyright notice out of an electronic edition if he though you were looking for it.
Back to square one...
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Dennis
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I agree as far as copyright notice not necessarily implying that the work has been infringed. And that most works will have a notice and a date. However, a work does not have to have a notice to be copyrighted.
From
http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.html#noc
Quote:
The use of a copyright notice is no longer required under U.S. law, although it is often beneficial. Because prior law did contain such a requirement, however, the use of notice is still relevant to the copyright status of older works.
Notice was required under the 1976 Copyright Act. This requirement was eliminated when the United States adhered to the Berne Convention, effective March 1, 1989.
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Use of the notice may be important because it informs the public that the work is protected by copyright, identifies the copyright owner, and shows the year of first publication. Furthermore, in the event that a work is infringed, if a proper notice of copyright appears on the published copy or copies to which a defendant in a copyright infringement suit had access, then no weight shall be given to such a defendant’s interposition of a defense based on innocent infringement in mitigation of actual or statutory damages, except as provided in section 504(c)(2) of the copyright law. Innocent infringement occurs when the infringer did not realize that the work was protected.
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So there can be innocent infringement, but just because it doesn't carry a notice doesn't mean that it's not under copyright.