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From:	ROBERSON@***.EDU
Subject:	Copyrights
Date:	Tue, 6 Apr 93 03:55:59 CET

Message no. 1 Waisley's tale is a case in point: Given the number of us playing, combined
with the proliferation of pop culture, I wouldn't be surprised if there were
many more adepts named Napalm running round out there. You see, the idea of
a character named Napalm, who specializes in fire spells, can NOT be
copyrighted. However, if someone writes a story up that folows the same
plot as, say, the MONICA affair, then there is ground for charges of
plagiarism and Esposito would be able to claim infringement on "his" Napalm,
since the context would make it clear where the idea came from.

As was said earlier: Don't screw your friends. This is touchy stuff.

J Roberson

From:	BOSCHETM@********.BITNET
Subject:	CopyRights
Date:	Wed, 7 Apr 93 13:22:37 EST

Message no. 2 This is just some general info on CopyRights if you want more
information write to the Register of Copyrights, Copyright Office, Library of
Congress, Washingtion, D.C. 20559.

A copyright grants the creator of an original work of expression the
exclusive right to make copies of that work and to prevent others from using
copies of that work and to prevent others from using the work without
permission. Copyrights do not protect ideas, only the expression of ideas.

Signatories to the Berne copyright treaty, which now includes the US,
do not require a copyright notice to be present for the work to be protected.
The copyright exists the moment the work is created. Not all countries are
signatories of the Berne convention. The US was, for many years, a signatory
to the Universal Copyright Convention but not the Berne convention. For
protection in non-Berne countries the notice should be like this:

Copyright 1993 Your Name.

The copyright symbol can be used instead of the word copyright but the
(c) is not a valid substitute. Also if you want maximum protection in certain
countries the phrase "all rights reserved" should appear immediately after
the notice. In addition registering your copy right with the government
affords you maximum protection. You can then sue for statuory damamges as well
as actual damages.

A copy right grants the following three rights:

1) the right to make copies of the work in any form;

2) the right to sell, lend, give away, or otherwise license the use of
those copies;

3) the right to prepare derivative works.

Public Domain means that the work belongs to every one. If you place
something in the public domain you give up your copyright protection forever.
While a dervative work of public domain materials can be copyrighted if
changes are substantial.

I should point out that the ownership of electronic mail is still being
argued. So the whole discusion might be moot anyway.

Michael Lee Boschet, Jr.
BoschetM@****.ipfw.indiana.edu
He has personality problems beyond the dreams of analysts.

From:	Jeremy Roberson <ROBERSON@***.EDU>
Subject:	Copyrights
Date:	Thu, 15 Apr 1993 10:52:57 -0700

Message no. 3 I concur with cks in that while the copyright discussion is all well and good
and there is great interest in it from potential story-tellers logged on, there
are so few people with facts but full of their opinions on how it *should*
work that any decisions we come to may have little or no bearing in court,
should it come to that (and I rather doubt it will). Perhaps some "envoys"
composed of people who have time and access to other boards where the issue
is more clearly defined and discussed could collect facts about the subject
and return before we start hammering about how much of what is copyrighted by
whom.

J Roberson

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