Hi Steve,
Have a question on your reply to this subject. I think it was in the late
1970's there was a major change in the copyright laws as they apply to
artist. This was that a work was copyrighted the moment that the artist
created that work. That is the moment that pen was put to paper, brush to
canvas or the shutter on a camera was pushed as examples. These copyrights
were good for the life of the artist plus fifty years, for the benefit of his
heirs. Also it was rather hard to "give up" these copyrights. At the time I
was working as a photographer doing my own work as well as work for a
company. I had to draw up a separate contract with the company explicitly
stating that my "work was for hire" (testing my memory again on wording) even
though I was on their payroll as a photographer. Without the contract and
the explicit wording all of the photographs that I took would have belonged
to me rather than the company. While the internet has certainly created some
"interesting" questions concerning copywrites do you know if there has been a
major change in the copyrights of artist? If not, it would seem to me that
the moment that you put hand to keyboard your words would be protected.
There were also some special provisions concerning software that had the same
implications.
Just curious
Bob (and Annice)
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