Re: All Rights Reserved

On Sun, 17 Jan 1999, Bob Stock <bstock[_at_]attymail.com> asked:
>
> The newsgroup misc.legal.moderated had a short discussion about whether
> the phrase "all rights reserved," when used in a copyright notice, is
> currently necessary under any country's laws. If not, are there
> historical reasons for its use?

Under the UK's Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1998 the so-called "moral rights" of identification and integrity apply only where asserted. Whether this is in compliance with Berne is dubious. Since the rights don't exist at all in the USA, except for signed editions of fewer than 200 works of visual art, however...

> Here's a copyright notice pulled (at random) from one of Mark Lemley's
> articles:
>
> Copyright Mark A. Lemley (1995).
>
> Here's one from Dan Burk:
>
> Copyright 1993 by Dan L. Burk. All rights reserved.
>
>
> Doesn't Dan's look more impressive? But is it? :-)

Here in London it is...   

--
Mike Holderness
http://www.poptel.org.uk/nuj/mike/
<mch[_at_]cix.compulink.co.uk>

 The proposal of any new order or regulation of commerce which comes from 
 [the dealers] ought always to be listened to with great precaution,  and 
 ought never to be adopted till after having been long examined, not only 
 with the most scrupulous, but also the most suspicious attention. 
   It comes from an order of men whose interest is never exactly the same 
 with that of the public,  who have generally an interest to deceive  and 
 even to oppress the public,  and who accordingly have on many occasions, 
 both deceived and oppressed it. 
 ---------------------[Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations, concluding Book I.]