Copyright preambles in the sources

Copyright preambles in the sources

[Alexandre E. Kopilovitch]

Here was plenty of talk about the copyright issues from the user's viewpoint,
but just now I faced a copyright issue as a developer, and need an advice or
some explanation.
  I constantly see in various sources a "copyright preamble". Although I fully
respect the author's rights to put any comments into the sources, I deeply
distaste those "copyright preambles" inside each source file. Therefore I wish
to avoid such a practice in my own sources. But being substantially foreing
to the whole Copyright/Patent/Intellectual_Property world (because of Soviet
background), I don't understand why those preambles are so widespreading.
why they appear even in the obviously non-commercial packages. And I fear to
violate a rule when I don't feel the reason for it -;) .
  So, why you, independent non-commercial developers, put the "copyright
preambles" at the beginning of each file of the distributions? Is it a necessary
thing? What dangers I invite if I do not include that preambles in each source
file, but simply include a separate "copyright notice" file into the distribution?


Alexander Kopilovitch                      aek@vib.usr.pu.ru
Saint-Petersburg
Russia

Re: Copyright preambles in the sources

[Marin David Condic]

The laws will vary from one country to another, so there's no absolute
answer to the question. I'm sure you've heard that copyright exists even if
you don't have a notice in the code. (Don't know how it would apply in
Russia or any other country outside of the U.S. Check with a lawyer.)

The typical reason for putting the notice into each module/file is that you
don't know if one of those files is going to get separated from the rest of
the work and you want to provide as much protection as you can for your
work. If you don't care that anyone coppies your work, uses it to make
money, claims it as their own, etc., then don't bother with any notices. If
you *do* care, adding the notice to every module is a way of making sure
that people know it is your work and you wish to retain rights to it. The
legal aspects are one thing, but consider the practical aspects as well.
Most people upon seeing the notice will be inclined to be honest and
respectful of your rights & perhaps contact you if they wish to make copies
for some purpose. That's a good thing, so even if it doesn't need to be
there legally, it helps in a practical way. Remember that regardless of what
the law says, street rules always apply. :-)

MDC
--
Marin David Condic
Senior Software Engineer
Pace Micro Technology Americas    www.pacemicro.com
Enabling the digital revolution
e-Mail:    marin.condic@pacemicro.com


"Alexandre E. Kopilovitch" <aek@vib.usr.pu.ru> wrote in message
news:mailman.1021590843.18249.comp.lang.ada@ada.eu.org...
> Here was plenty of talk about the copyright issues from the user's
viewpoint,
> but just now I faced a copyright issue as a developer, and need an advice
or
> some explanation.
>   I constantly see in various sources a "copyright preamble". Although I
fully
> respect the author's rights to put any comments into the sources, I deeply
> distaste those "copyright preambles" inside each source file. Therefore I
wish
> to avoid such a practice in my own sources. But being substantially
foreing
> to the whole Copyright/Patent/Intellectual_Property world (because of
Soviet
> background), I don't understand why those preambles are so widespreading.
> why they appear even in the obviously non-commercial packages. And I fear
to
> violate a rule when I don't feel the reason for it -;) .
>   So, why you, independent non-commercial developers, put the "copyright
> preambles" at the beginning of each file of the distributions? Is it a
necessary
> thing? What dangers I invite if I do not include that preambles in each
source
> file, but simply include a separate "copyright notice" file into the
distribution?
>
>
> Alexander Kopilovitch                      aek@vib.usr.pu.ru
> Saint-Petersburg
> Russia
>

Re: Copyright preambles in the sources

[Antonio Duran]

"Alexandre E. Kopilovitch" <aek@vib.usr.pu.ru> wrote in message news:<mailman.1021590843.18249.comp.lang.ada@ada.eu.org>...
> Here was plenty of talk about the copyright issues from the user's viewpoint,
> but just now I faced a copyright issue as a developer, and need an advice or
> some explanation.
>   I constantly see in various sources a "copyright preamble". Although I fully
> respect the author's rights to put any comments into the sources, I deeply
> distaste those "copyright preambles" inside each source file. Therefore I wish
> to avoid such a practice in my own sources. But being substantially foreing
> to the whole Copyright/Patent/Intellectual_Property world (because of Soviet
> background), I don't understand why those preambles are so widespreading.
> why they appear even in the obviously non-commercial packages. And I fear to
> violate a rule when I don't feel the reason for it -;) .
>   So, why you, independent non-commercial developers, put the "copyright
> preambles" at the beginning of each file of the distributions? Is it a necessary
> thing? What dangers I invite if I do not include that preambles in each source
> file, but simply include a separate "copyright notice" file into the distribution?
> 
> 
> Alexander Kopilovitch                      aek@vib.usr.pu.ru
> Saint-Petersburg
> Russia

I can only answer your question from my personal point of view so,
please, do not take this answer as a general case.

First, I think that there is a lot of confussion on what really free
software is. Perhaps this confussion has to do with the polymorphic
nature of the english word "free". Free software means that the
license of that software allows you or provides you the right to copy,
distribute, modify, or improve that software because you have access
to the source code. Free software does not mean that the software has
zero price. So there is nothing that precludes free software of being
commercial software.

Second, whenever I write software, I'd like to receive credit for what
I've done so I put a copyright notice on every file I write. And, I
like to make clear that I'm the author of that file (for the good and
for the bad) and I want to preserve my rights over my own work.
Moreover, I also make clear that the software has no warranties.

Third, the main reason for this is to preserve my right and the right
of those who use, modify, distribute or improve the work I originated
by avoiding that our collective work be patented by a third. Such a
patent will deny us the right to use our software.

Visit http://www.gnu.org to see what means free software and the kind
of licenses for free software and follow this link to know about the
harm that software patents could do:
http://lpf.ai.mit.edu/Patents/danger-of-software-patents.txt