Re-using copyrighted code

[Steven D'Aprano]

On Mon, 10 Jun 2013 08:07:57 +1000, Chris Angelico wrote:

> On Mon, Jun 10, 2013 at 6:32 AM, Mark Janssen
> <dreamingforward at gmail.com> wrote:
>> That's not entirely correct.  If he *publishes* his code (I'm using
>> this term "publish" technically to mean "put forth in a way where
>> anyone of the general public can or is encouraged to view"), then he is
>> *tacitly* giving up protections that secrecy (or *not* disclosing it)
>> would *automatically* grant.  The only preserved right is authorship
>> after that.   So it can be re-distributed freely, if authorship is
>> preserved.  The only issue after that is "fair use" and that includes
>> running the program (not merely copying the source).
> 
> (Digression follows.) That was true back in the late 1800s in the US,
> but was not true in England at that time, and was solved in a
> unification of copyright laws and treaties. There was a huge issue over
> the copyright of the opera "HMS Pinafore"

No, it was not true. Mark is saying that publishing a work automatically 
revokes all the privileges granted by copyright, which is ridiculous. 
There has never been a time where copyright only applies to secret works 
that aren't published.

The HMS Pinafore issue -- and similarly for the works of Mark Twain, and 
any other British author who had work published in the US -- was that 
their copyright in Britain was not recognised, or legally enforceable, in 
the USA.


-- 
Steven