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Copyright for Software Companies

Ted Graham

Most programmers only think about copyright when management decrees that every file needs a copyright notice at the top or bottom.  Next month, I'm sure a junior developer somewhere will be assigned to update the copyright date on a source tree to show 2007, while the features that would make that product a success languish unimplemented.

However, there are reasons to think about copyright.  But don't think about it too much, implementing features for users is how software companies make money, copyright is just one of the details.  I am not a lawyer, and this isn't legal advice. This is just my interpretation of how copyright affects US-based software companies.

Copyright is, “a set of exclusive rights regulating the use of a particular expression of an idea” (Wikipedia’s definition).  In the US, copyright is automatic, any original work is copyright without any action by the author.  However, unless the copyright is registered, it is difficult to enforce and you have little chance of collecting damages. Violators of a registered copyright may be liable for statutory damages and legal fees, which provides you with additional negotiating leverage.

Websites and computer source code are considered literary works, so they are registered using Form TX at http://www.copyright.gov/forms/.  Registering a work requires submitting parts of that work (for source, the first and last 25 printed pages are often used), so even though you can black out sensitive material, many companies prefer not to register a copyright on their source code.  Depending on your concerns about violations, registering the copyright on public facing material like websites and your application’s screens could be helpful.  Websites commonly add a copyright notice to the bottom of each page, while applications place the copyright in the About box.

Copyright should always appear in three parts: Copyright and/or ©, the date the work was initially completed and the company name or copyright owner.  As mentioned, the date is the date the work was originally completed.  Any modifications to the work is a derivative work, which is covered under the original copyright.  Many sites are concerned that a copyright date several years in the past makes their product look dated, so it is common practice to extend the dates to the present, for example, “Copyright © 2004-2006 Ted Graham“

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