Re: PepperfishProfiler

[Jamie Webb <j@...>]

On Fri, Aug 13, 2004 at 09:33:27AM -0700, William Roper wrote:
> I would say going to a web page owned by someone else and posting code
> snippets would be you specifically saying here, here is some code,
> have fun unless you specifically put restrictions on it's use.

That's etiquette, not law. Some sites include terms which state that
anything posted is automatically under XXX license, but I've no idea
if that approach has ever been tested in a court.

> I may be completely off base, but it makes more sense. I mean if it
> was the case that someone has to specifically say "this is public
> domain" then why does every book have a copywright notice in it? If it
> was implicit that the owner retains all rights by distributing
> something.

Copyright law is largely defined by the Berne Convention. Prior to
1970-something, IIRC, this required that copyright be explicitly
noted, and anything else was public domain. Since then, copyright has
been the default.

Copyright notices appear over everything partly though inertia, and
partly so there's no confusion about exactly who owns the copyright.
The 'all rights reserved' bit you still see sometimes is a throwback
from when rights weren't reserved by default, and is now completely
meaningless. Right have to be explicity granted.

-- Jamie Webb