Copyright?

Steve Higginbotham writes:

>      Is GDW planning on using any more designs from TML, or was this a one
> time thing?  And does GDW REALLY think they have a copyright on those
> designs, as their copyright blurb seems to imply?  Or are they unaware that
> anything posted to internet is public domain, unless posted with copyright
> notices?

I'm shaky on this, but does the concept of public domain apply to material
produced after the US implemented the Berne Conventions? As I understand
it, under Berne a creator retains 'creator's rights' (the equivalent of
copyright) to anything that he dosen't explicitly relinguish his rights
to. Merely publishing them without a copyright notice shouldn't do it.

(The way I heard, the US didn't sign the Berne Conventions, but enacted
compatible laws for the US. Perhaps that's the reason for the difference.)

Note: My understanding of the Berne Conventions may well be faulty.


      Hans Rancke
University of Copenhagen
     [email removed]
- ------------
"I used to argue the matter at first, but I'm wiser now. Facts
are stubborn things, but not half so stubborn as fallacies."
                - Stella Maynard in "Anne of the Island"