[WikiEN-l] What constitutes a copyvio?

Thu Sep 11 13:27:42 UTC 2003

From: "Fred Bauder" <fredbaud at ctelco.net>

> on 9/10/03 10:24 PM, Rick at giantsrick13 at yahoo.com wrote:
> Is Stevevertigo correct that, because the page doesn't specifically have a
> copyright on it, it's fair game to be stolen and incorporated onto
> Wikipedia?  I can't believe that.

Before 1989 (when the US adopted the Berne Convention) a work that was
published in the United States without a copyright notice did not assert
copyright. Some such works may have fallen into the public domain. However
the law passed allowed for works in which a copyright notice did not appear
to have copyright restored if certain steps were takens.

This was not generally true for works who first country of publication
was/is
a Berne Convention signatories as one of the principals of Berne is that
there are no
formalities to copyright; copyright subsists by the act of fixation.

There is no concept of copyright "theft"; only copyright infringement. There
are
criminal statutes that cover copyright infringment that can incur a criminal
penalty. One does not deprive the owner of their property when one
misappropriates
intellectual property; one deprives them of the rights they have over that
property.

Alex756