On Thursday 12 May 2005 10:16, Christian Neukirchen wrote:
> > The source really should (maybe must) contain a copyright notice.  Once 
it 
> > is copyrighted, by default, people's ability to use the source is 
severely 
> > limited.  The GPL and other similar licenses give people additional 
rights 
> > they wouldn't otherwise have.
> 
> IANAL, but isn't the file copyrighted automatically due to the Berne
> Convention?

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that the file is automatically copyrighted, but I 
think that's a technicality that you shouldn't count on.  It's like 
leaving your door unlocked.  If someone walks into your house and steals 
something the law says you're 100% in the right and they're 100% wrong, 
but try to convince a police officer to do anything about it if you didn't 
do anything at all to protect yourself.

I think if you want to have people respect your copyright at a minimum you 
have to mention that it exists, even if technically you don't need to.

Ben