Re: Range of Dates in Copyright Notice

From: Joseph Pietro Riolo <riolo[_at_]voicenet.com>
Date: Mon, 02 Jun 2003 15:10:56 -0400

On Wed, 21 May 2003, Howard P. Shaw <hps[_at_]spsk.com> wrote:

>

> In view of the fact that a copyright notice (though no longer mandatory)
> is supposed to include the date of first publication, is there any
> authority on the usefulness or validity of stating a range of dates,
> e.g., 1999-2003, in a copyright notice on a website, where some pages
> are changed or added frequently but other pages have not been updated or
> otherwise edited since they were first posted/published? Does the
> answer differ based upon whether the notice is placed upon the
> individual page, or is found on a terms and conditions page that applies
> to the entire website, to which individual pages merely provide an
> undated link?

The practice of giving a range of years for copyright is not modern but is as old as 19th century. Several weeks ago, I bought an old book at used book fair. The copyright page in that book said:

                E. B. TREAT
           COPYRIGHT, 1878-1882.

I think that the fact that range of years has been used for more than one century speaks for itself. However, the range of years that we see on software and web pages is mostly the result of laziness. The authors of the software and web pages simply don't want to spend too much time identifying which portion is first created in which year. An example is the junk postcard that my wife received from UPS few days ago. On the back of the postcard, it said:

          (c) Copyright 2003 United Parcel Service of
          America, Inc. All rights reserved.
          Copyright 1999-2003 Dell Computer Corporation.
          (c) 1994-2003 Hewlett-Packard Company.

Nothing on the both sides of the postcard is created in 1994. I can only draw one conclusion: Hewlett-Packard Company is very sloppy with copyright notice. So are many authors of software and web pages.

Is it a crime? Yes, as per Section 506(c) in the U.S. Copyright Law. But, it has not been enforced since 1976. Also, I don't think that Department of Justice, that is already busy with usurping rights, will ever care about the section.

Joseph Pietro Riolo
<riolo[_at_]voicenet.com>
http://www.boycottcopyright.com

Number of days left until 1-1-2019 when all knowledge of 1923 in the land of the U.S.A. will be freed from their copyright owners' prisons: 5,692

Public domain notice: I put all of my expressions in this post in the public domain. Received on Mon Jun 02 2003 - 23:10:56 GMT