
Copyright Notices on Websites. Needed? - duck
http://feint.me/articles/copyright-notices-on-websites-needed
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thosss
This article got it almost right. Copyright notices aren't required but are
generally recommended because they prevent an "innocent infringer" defense.
Basically, courts will be unwilling to reduce damages if infringer argues that
he/she didn't know the work was copyrighted.

Also, in the U.S. under federal law, copyright isn't granted upon _creation_
of a work but rather upon its _fixation_. So thinking up a poem and speaking
it isn't enough; you actually need to write it down or record it.

~~~
tzs
I wonder what happens in this case:

1\. You think up a new poem, and speak it at open mic night at a club. No one
is recording, so there is no fixation.

2\. Someone else hears your poem, goes home, and writes it down from memory.
That's not fixation, since 17 USC 101 defines one of the elements of fixation
as being by or under the authority of the author. So, the work is still not
fixed, so copyright has not yet attached.

3\. That person starts making and selling copies of your poem.

4\. You finally write down your poem. It's now fixed, and copyright attaches.

I would presume that you can now stop that other person, via copyright law,
from making any more copies. Is there any case, though, for damages from the
copies that were made and sold before #4? Can you prevent the distribution of
the copies #3 has already made by not sold? Can you prevent the people who
have bought copies already from reselling them, or does first sale apply?
(First sale only applies to copies that were lawfully made and so usually does
not apply to works that were not authorized, but in this case the work was not
under copyright when the copies were made so I would think they would count as
being lawfully made).

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wccrawford
"One twitterer mentioned that a copyright notice helps deter people from
stealing content and another stated that it helps make a case for willful
misuse. Both are valid points, but thanks to the current international
copyright laws both are false."

Wrong. The first IS true. Having a copyright notice DOES deter people from
stealing your work. Especially if they don't already know that everything is
automatically copyright.

