Liquid Fire Posted January 3, 2009 Share Posted January 3, 2009 I know when someone puts up content on the internet, all there have to do is put a copyright notice with it and that is all that is needed. Is this the same for code? If i want to copyright my php code, do i just need to put a copyright notice in the codes file? Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/139328-copyrighting-code/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mchl Posted January 3, 2009 Share Posted January 3, 2009 Depends on country, where the content will be read. Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/139328-copyrighting-code/#findComment-728715 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liquid Fire Posted January 3, 2009 Author Share Posted January 3, 2009 well it would be open source code(BSD) which as far i know just mean i don't own the code, the community does, but i would still own the copyrights to it(so someone could not just take the code and switch copyright John Doe to copyright John Some) so it could be read from anywhere but i am mainly concerned for the US i guess. Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/139328-copyrighting-code/#findComment-728728 Share on other sites More sharing options...
corbin Posted January 3, 2009 Share Posted January 3, 2009 In the US, copyrighting is automatic. The only way to lose copyrights is by giving them away. I'm not sure how the BSD license would play into that, though. You could always just release it and state somewhere that the header must remain unchanged in all files for legal use or something. Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/139328-copyrighting-code/#findComment-728732 Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomfmason Posted January 3, 2009 Share Posted January 3, 2009 I generally go with MIT for smaller projects and GPL or LGPL for larger projects. Most of the time all I do is create a LICENSE file in the root of the project(e.g. http://svn.gna.org/svn/pokersource/trunk/icm-calculator/LICENSE) and paste the contents of the license at the top of all of the files in the project (e.g. http://svn.gna.org/svn/pokersource/trunk/icm-calculator/icm-webservice.py). Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/139328-copyrighting-code/#findComment-728744 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel0 Posted January 3, 2009 Share Posted January 3, 2009 In the US, copyrighting is automatic. The only way to lose copyrights is by giving them away. Not just in the US, but any country which have signed one or more of the following international treaties: - Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works - Universal Copyright Convention, Geneva - Universal Copyright Convention, Paris - Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) - WIPO Copyright Treaty There are only a handful of countries in the world that hasn't signed either of those. Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/139328-copyrighting-code/#findComment-728791 Share on other sites More sharing options...
corbin Posted January 3, 2009 Share Posted January 3, 2009 In the US, copyrighting is automatic. The only way to lose copyrights is by giving them away. Not just in the US, but any country which have signed one or more of the following international treaties: - Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works - Universal Copyright Convention, Geneva - Universal Copyright Convention, Paris - Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) - WIPO Copyright Treaty There are only a handful of countries in the world that hasn't signed either of those. Yeah I knew most countries followed the auto-copyright rules too, but I wasn't sure about which ones or the details ;p. Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/139328-copyrighting-code/#findComment-728873 Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheFilmGod Posted January 5, 2009 Share Posted January 5, 2009 Sure there's automatic copyright, but that doesn't mean you have fullproof legal protection. You should talk to an attorney if you really want to get a fullproof copyright. How many people here have actually enforced their copyright and seeked legal protection over their php code? - 0 people? Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/139328-copyrighting-code/#findComment-729583 Share on other sites More sharing options...
bubbasheeko Posted January 5, 2009 Share Posted January 5, 2009 Or you could spend a bit of money to protect your code: Ioncube Zend Guard Encrypting your code will place your copyright headers to the code and will not work if they are removed. Not to mention your code would be encrypted. Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/139328-copyrighting-code/#findComment-729612 Share on other sites More sharing options...
corbin Posted January 5, 2009 Share Posted January 5, 2009 Or you could spend a bit of money to protect your code: Ioncube Zend Guard Encrypting your code will place your copyright headers to the code and will not work if they are removed. Not to mention your code would be encrypted. He wants to share it, but just have his authorship known, as far as I can tell. (But, if you're sharing something for modification/use, you're pretty much giving up copyright, so maybe I read it wrongly.) Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/139328-copyrighting-code/#findComment-729654 Share on other sites More sharing options...
bubbasheeko Posted January 5, 2009 Share Posted January 5, 2009 Pretty much. Here is the true question of the hour. When the code has been modified enough, when does it stop being yours? Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/139328-copyrighting-code/#findComment-729657 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel0 Posted January 5, 2009 Share Posted January 5, 2009 (But, if you're sharing something for modification/use, you're pretty much giving up copyright, so maybe I read it wrongly.) No you're not. You still retain copyright even if you release it as e.g. GPL. Only if you release it to public domain will you lose copyright. Besides, just because someone can do something doesn't mean they are allowed to. Pretty much. Here is the true question of the hour. When the code has been modified enough, when does it stop being yours? You will need to get a court to determine that. If you feel someone crossed the line then you must file a lawsuit. Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/139328-copyrighting-code/#findComment-729746 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liquid Fire Posted January 5, 2009 Author Share Posted January 5, 2009 Well the license i plan to release msot of my software is going to be BSD. The only thing i care about is i don't want some to be able to download my code and then just change the copyright notice to there name and not give me credit if they are going to re-release the code in ther own product. It would be pretty crappy of me to download jQuery and then change john resig with ryan zec on the copyright notice. Another thing i would also not want to happen in for me to release something under BSD and then someone else download it and then they get a full fledged copyright and then sue me, is that possible if i don't legal copyright my code that is released under BSD? Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/139328-copyrighting-code/#findComment-730244 Share on other sites More sharing options...
nrg_alpha Posted January 6, 2009 Share Posted January 6, 2009 At least coders don't have to deal with the looming lunacy that is the orphan works bill. So far, it is a threat to us artists (specifically with regards to commercialism). This also shed light on the issue. An excerpt from the first link: "The Orphan Works Act defines an "orphan work" as any copyrighted work whose author any infringer says he is unable to locate with what the infringer himself decides has been a "reasonably diligent search." In a radical departure from existing copyright law and business practice, the U.S. Copyright Office has proposed that Congress grant such infringers freedom to ignore the rights of the author and use the work for any purpose, including commercial usage. In the case of visual art, the word "author" means "artist." Of course, this is an ongoing battle between US congress / house and visual artists about this (I have faxed my formal complaint to congress as a result). As far as I'm concerned, this is a big slap in the face of what the Berne Convention stands for. Apparently privatized companies would be set up to require artists to pay and register their all the work they wish to protect (this all involves image recognition systems as searchable databases). Thus, any individual or company can check in with these registrars for further assistance in finding the appropriate creator. Imagine that.. you create something that is *supposed to be* by right yours and yours alone. Yet if you don't pay and have it registered by one of these privatized registrars, and companies / individuals 'cannot find you through due diligence via strong search efforts', they get to use it legally within the US. As far as I'm concerned, if you find artwork that you cannot track the owner of, you shouldn't have any rights in using it, period! Simply astonishing... I can only shake my head in disbelief! Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/139328-copyrighting-code/#findComment-730630 Share on other sites More sharing options...
corbin Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 (But, if you're sharing something for modification/use, you're pretty much giving up copyright, so maybe I read it wrongly.) No you're not. You still retain copyright even if you release it as e.g. GPL. Only if you release it to public domain will you lose copyright. Besides, just because someone can do something doesn't mean they are allowed to. For all practical purposes though, wouldn't you be giving it up? If people can modify and freely use it, what are they limited on? Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/139328-copyrighting-code/#findComment-731339 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel0 Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 (But, if you're sharing something for modification/use, you're pretty much giving up copyright, so maybe I read it wrongly.) No you're not. You still retain copyright even if you release it as e.g. GPL. Only if you release it to public domain will you lose copyright. Besides, just because someone can do something doesn't mean they are allowed to. For all practical purposes though, wouldn't you be giving it up? If people can modify and freely use it, what are they limited on? No, because you can suddenly release it under a new license if you wish to. You cannot do that if you've released it to public domain (because it's not yours anymore). Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/139328-copyrighting-code/#findComment-731413 Share on other sites More sharing options...
corbin Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 Oooohhhh yeah..... I'm an idiot.... It had never occurred to me that one can rerelease something under a different license x.x. Hehe. Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/139328-copyrighting-code/#findComment-732169 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.