Re: The date? [more copyright issues]

[tb@becket.net (Thomas Bushnell, BSG)]

Joergen Haegg <jorgen.hagg@axis.com> writes:

> I assume if these copyrights appear in the same source file, then
> they must all be followed?
> 
> Haven't quite understod the importance of the date. These
> copyrights (and there are actually a few more without explicit
> copyright which I'm trying to locate) have
> different dates.

> How does the date work, if person A has copyright 1990, person B 1992,
> person C 1999 and D 2000?
> (For the same file.)

The date is irrelevant.  It just defines when the copyright expires.

The date is the date of publication.

If I write A and publish it in 1999, it says "Copyright Thomas, 1999".

Then you write B and publish it in 2000, and say "Copyright Joergen,
2000".

Along comes Fred; he puts A and B together and adds stuff of his own.
The result is "Copyright Thomas, 1999; Copyright Joergen 2000;
Copyright Fred, 2001"; and this product can only be copied under the
terms of all three licenses.

As a general rule, don't think in terms of "source file" either; think
in terms of "complete program"; or better, in the terms of however the
author distributed the work.

Thomas