If a printed work is released without an explicitly stated license, does the author retain a copyright? For example if somebody's GCSE IT coursework was being redistributed to students for cheating off of, could the author demand damages from loss of sales (should they want to sell the work commercially, it's now worthless after being distributed for free), or atleast send a legal nastygram/cease and desist to prevent the work from being distributed. I would have released it under a non-commercial license (GPL for printed works?), but my school were pricks (follow up; they also expelled her on the last day to spoil her permanent record and banned several of my friends from school grounds), so now I'm going to be a dick about it.
Copyright does not have to be registered for it to be in effect, all works are inherently copyrighted.
Care to elaborate why? In the UK, and almost every other country in the world, copyright is automatic, and by default all rights are reserved unless otherwise stated (you do not need to state that all rights are reserved, they already are).
considering the current wave of people being sued for copyright infringements.... imagine that you have a great idea.... write it on paper, make it and make it as GNU so everyone can use it and improve it, everyone starts using it...... BUT some random guy appears from nowhere, he says that he had the same idea some time ago, never patented or made it widespread, he brings some documents that are proven to be older than your documents making the copyright of the idea his..... what happens next is that you sued to the next solar system and back and the people that were using it..... they are not happy. at least i think this is correct
No, an idea has to be patented, an idea is not automatically protected. The above would be true if you wrote a story, and he also wrote the same story 20 years before (exactly the same).
But your scenario is of something that is patentable rather than something subject to copyrite. IE if it was a new idea, it would be patantable, but if it is something like a novel then it comes under copyrite. I am not a legal expert, but I believe that is the distinction between the two.
also in the situation described by DXR the patent would not be transferred it would be voided.(btw you people in the eu need to kick out the people running the European patent office asap those *******s are passing software patents) Though you would need to show that the patent is not Novel(new). While the fairytale property (IP) world is pretty screwed removing automatic copyright would not resolve it and would not assist in resolving it. also trademarks need not be registered unless you wish to sue for statutory damages(other than simply going for direct damages and halt of usage) (granted my understanding of it is best in .us and .au law) Pedro you will probably find terms in the contract for admission to the school that state that while you own the copyright you have issued a non-exclusive irrevocable licence (best case some schools i have seen demand an exclusive license) you may be able to get this removed as an overly onerous term but expect an incredibly long fight with a lot of money going to lawyers. (not legal advice, IANAL)
