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"all rights reserved" and GPL



Hello. In the license header of a source file being licensed under the GPL, there must be a copyright notice. Sometimes I see the usage of "All rights reserved" in that notice:

// Copyright (C) 2007, Company X. All rights reserved.

1) Is the usage of "All rights reserved" appropriate when a file is being licensed under the GPL, or in fact under whatever license?

2) What is the purpose of its usage?

3) If it is that the licensor wants to say: "Any rights I have not explicitly given you, you do not have"?

4) If so, would it not be necessary, strictly speaking, to say so, i.e. "All rights regarding this work, unless explicitly granted to the licensee, are reserved by the licensor"? "All rights reserved" seems to be inappropriate, if not incorrect, when in fact all rights are *not* reserved.

5) Is it *advisable* to use such a terminology in a copyright statement in a file licensed under the GPL?

Thanks for your thoughts.

Shriramana Sharma.



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