Copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States (title 17, U.S. Code) to the authors of "original works of authorship," including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works. This protection is available to both published and unpublished works.

In theory when you write something, it is copyrighted. No further steps are required to protect your intellectual property. In reality it might be difficult to prove that you are the genuine author without extra evidence. You can officially register your work with U.S. Copyright Office for $30 (application process takes 4-5 months).

This collection of information is (C) Copyright 1997 (and later) by Stan Rohrer. All rights reserved. Permission is granted for personal non-profit use. Additional copies and distribution require the express written consent of Stan Rohrer. Some information within this collection may be otherwise copyrighted and remains in the possession of those holders where that is the case.

Generally, the person who creates a work is the owner of the copyright. Thus, independent artists, photographers and writers own the copyrights to their works. The only exceptions to this rule occur when a work is created by an employee as part of his or her job duties or when a work is created under a written ìwork-for-hireî agreement. For example, free-lance photographers own the copyrights to the images that they allow to newspapers or magazines to publish.

A copyright originates at the moment a work is created. For a written work, the copyright comes into existence as the words are typed, printed, or saved to a computer disk. For a photograph, the copyright is created at the moment the image is developed. If a photograph is taken with a modern digital camera, the copyright originates at the time the image is saved on a computer disk or on a hard drive.

Registration is accomplished by filling out a simple form, paying a small fee and sending one or two copies of the work to the Copyright Office. The number of copies generally depends on the whether the work has been published before registration. Basically, only one copy or photocopy needs to be sent to the Copyright Office for unpublished works. For published works, two copies of the work need to be filed.

A copyright notation consists of the word "copyright" or the international copyright symbol, which is the letter "C" within a circle, together with the year of first publication and the copyright owner's name. For example, a proper copyright notation for this work would be either of the following: c 1997 Andrew D. Epstein or "Copyright 1997 Andrew D. Epstein."

Copyright infringement is the unauthorized use of a copyrighted work. Even the simple act of photocopying a copyrighted image without permission can be an infringement. When there is an infringement, the owner of the copyright can sue for damages. All lawsuits for copyright infringement must be brought in federal court, not state court. Yes. The right to make derivative copies is reserved exclusively to the copyright owner.

PostgreSQL is distributed under the classic BSD license. Basically, it allows users to do anything they want with the code, including reselling binaries without the source code. The only restriction is that you not hold us legally liable for problems with the software. There is also the requirement that this copyright appear in all copies of the software.