Re: license for Federal Information Processing Standards

[Arnoud Engelfriet <galactus@stack.nl>]

Mahesh T. Pai wrote:
> Giacomo A. Catenazzi said on Wed, Feb 25, 2004 at 10:27:13AM +0100,:
>  > >All works of the United States Government (of which FIPS 180-1 is one)
>  > >are ineligible for copyright and are explicitly public domain.
>  > 
>  > There are public domain only in the United States, IIRC
> 
> Why do you say so??

Because the Berne Convention appears to state so.

> AFAIK, copyright  is granted  by countries on  a reciprocal  basis; no
> country grants  a copyright for a  `foreign work' when  such work does
> not enjoy any protection in its country of origin, nor a period longer
> than what  it enjoys in  its originating country.  Correct me if  I am
> wrong.

Article 5(2) of the Berne Convention specifically states
"The enjoyment and the exercise of these rights ...
shall be independent of the existence of protection in the 
country of origin of the work."

And under article 5(1) an author, even the US Government,
can claim foreign copyrights for works that qualify as
"literary or artistic" under the Berne Convention.

I couldn't find a basis in the BC for what you are saying above.

Arnoud

-- 
Arnoud Engelfriet, Dutch patent attorney - Speaking only for myself
Patents, copyright and IPR explained for techies: http://www.iusmentis.com/