Sam Barnett-Cormack scripsit: > Well, that depends on if you're living entirely in the US, or on the > basis of international copyright treaties, in which case you or other > parties might be in countries that don't require the insanity of > registered copyright. The U.S. doesn't *require* copyrights to be registered -- that would be against the Berne Convention, and in fact was one of the stumbling-blocks to U.S. acceptance of Berne, back in the day. It simply grants a privilege to people who do register: they can sue in U.S. court for infringement and do not have to prove actual monetary damages -- instead, they can get US$50,000 per infringing act, which is quite a hefty threat. You don't need to be a U.S. citizen or resident to register, either.
So if you are the copyright owner of open-source software, it may be worthwhile to pay the registration fee (the cost is $30 for a perpetual registration, though you need to register at least each new version, if not each actual release) in order to put teeth into your license. IANAL, TINLA. -- John Cowan http://www.ccil.org/~cowan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> You tollerday donsk? N. You tolkatiff scowegian? Nn. You spigotty anglease? Nnn. You phonio saxo? Nnnn. Clear all so! `Tis a Jute.... (Finnegans Wake 16.5) -- license-discuss archive is at http://crynwr.com/cgi-bin/ezmlm-cgi?3