Re: [PATCH] git-mktree: reverse of git-ls-tree.

From: Junio C Hamano <junkio@cox.net>
Date: Feb 21, 2006, 09:49 UTC
Message-ID: <7vr75x11or.fsf@assigned-by-dhcp.cox.net>
In-Reply-To: <43FAD35E.5080401@op5.se>

Andreas Ericsson <ae@op5.se> writes:

Show 13 quoted lines

> Keith Packard wrote:
>> <internationalization-pedant-mode>
>> On Mon, 2006-02-20 at 22:37 -0800, Junio C Hamano wrote:
>>
>>>+ * Copyright (c) Junio C Hamano, 2006
>> I've been told by at least two lawyers that the string '(c)' has no
>> legal meaning in the US. If you want to indicate copyright, the only
>> symbol which does carry legal weight is the c-in-a-circle mark
>...
> I'm not sure how mad such a law can be written, but what you describe
> go against both common sense and common practice since it puts the
> burden of protection on the victim-to-be before the crime is even
> committed...

Keith is saying that unlike ciecle-c, (c) is meaningless. While he is right about that, it does not matter, as long as he is talking about "legal meaning in the US". It is my understanding that spelled out "Copyright" (or its abbreviation, "Copr.") weighs as much as the circle-c mark.

And it matters even less these days. US law traditionally required copyright notice to be protected, but after 1989 US Copyright Act, made in line with Berne convention, the notice is not even necessary. It used to be that you would want circle-c, Copyright and "All Rights Reserved", if you really wanted to be anal. Buenos Aires signatories are all Berne members these days, it became just obsolete inertia.