copyright notice

[dgary at ecsvax.UUCP]

In article <36 at diku.UUCP> keld at diku.UUCP (Keld J|rn Simonsen) writes:
>This is only true in a country in North America, namely USA. Other
>countries like Canada and European countries have ratified a convention
>which does not demand these formal requirements to copyright-protect
>works. There (C) 1986 Joe Random is OK.

I believe you're mistaken.  The US *is* party to the Universal
Copyright Convention (among others).  It is precisely the UCC that
requires the c-in-a-circle designation.  US law permits, but does not
require, that symbol.  There are proposals to explicitly allow (C) as
an alternative to c-in-a-circle, but at the moment (says the brand new
book I just saw the other day and, dagnabbit, can't remember the name
of) there is no way for works in ASCII to strictly conform to the UCC
c-in-a-circle requirement.  Please note that the word "copyright" (or
the abbreviation "copr") is sufficient in the US.

I'll add that there are a few countries that do not require any formal
notice of copyright.
-- 
D Gary Grady
Duke U Comp Center, Durham, NC  27706
(919) 684-3695
USENET:  {seismo,decvax,ihnp4,akgua,etc.}!mcnc!ecsvax!dgary