[Zope3-Users] Zope 3 Developer's LiveBook

Ronald L Chichester complaw at hal-pc.org
Tue Feb 14 12:46:37 EST 2006


On Tue, 14 Feb 2006 10:15:50 -0700
  Paul Dumais <paul at unstate.ca> wrote:
> Hi everyone,
> 
> Do we start from scratch? Can we use any of the material from 
>Stephan
> or Phillip's books? The Zope 3 Developer's Handbook by Stephan 
>Richter
> doesn't seem to have any copywrite notice on it (on line pdf version
> at least). Can someone tell me what are the restrictions on it's 
>use?
> 

I don't know where Stephan Richter wrote his book, but I strongly 
suspect he did it in a country that is a signatory to the Berne 
Convention. 
 (http://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/ip/berne/trtdocs_wo001.html)

Most countries (including the US) are signatories to the Berne 
Convention.  One element of that convention is for copyright to be 
ascribed automatically upon creation on a tangible medium -- even if 
no express copyright notice is present.  In the US, a copyright notice 
is *optional* for all works created after March 1, 1989.

I suspect that you are thinking of pre-1976 US Copyright law, where a 
copyright notice was much more important.  Currently, however, the 
lack of copyright notice does not absolve the author of their 
copyright.

In short, it is a very safe bet that Mr. Richter's book is 
copyrighted, and you would have to seek permission from the owner of 
the copyright (which may or may not be Mr. Richter) to use that text.

Ron


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