[OT] Copyright Question

[Joe Lewis Wilkins]

Hey Roger,

Though I don't pretend to "know" this for a fact, in my copyright  
research many years ago, I discovered that if something is published  
without a proper copyright notice then the published item is  
automatically in the public domain; And one cannot subsequently  
publish that same item WITH a copyright notice expecting to remove it  
from the public domain; so if, as you say, the item has no copyright  
notice affixed to it, you should feel free to use it in any manner you  
see fit; though, personally, I would utilize some sort of "disclaimer"  
that would inform others as to its status. And you had better look  
everywhere that such a notice may be concealed. You should NOT attempt  
to copyright it yourself, but attribute it to the original creator if  
at all possible. Additionally, you are not required to Register items  
you copyright, but proving the validity of your copyright at a later  
date, if you do not, is virtually impossible. So you may as a last  
ditch effort, try to find out if a copyright for the item was ever  
Registered. If not, then you are really safe in using it.

Consequently, if you create anything that you expect you will  
eventually wish to copyright for yourself, you should affix a proper  
copyright notice to it even when you publish it very narrowly by  
sending a copy to a single individual. And, eventually, you should  
register the copyright. All of our emails, for example, since none of  
us apply CR notices to them, are in the public domain.

JMHO,

Joe Wilkins




On Aug 15, 2009, at 8:43 PM, Steve Jones wrote:

> The short answer is, if you didn't produce it and can't secure the  
> rights or prove it is in the public domain, you can't without  
> risking a lawsuit at a later date.
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On Aug 15, 2009, at 10:32 PM, Roger Guay <irog at mac.com> wrote:
>
>> I have a great video that I would like to use in promotional  
>> materials. I can't remember where it came from, it has no copyright  
>> info on it, and I have diligently searched the web for it's origin  
>> to no avail. How can I legally use this video?
>>
>> TIA and cheers,
>> Roger
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