Bug#466714: bogus advice in copyright-without-copyright-notice
Peter Eisentraut <peter_e@gmx.net> writes:
> Package: lintian
> Version: 1.23.45
> Severity: normal
>
> Lintian says:
>
> """
> N: A
> N: copyright notice must consist of Copyright, Copr., or the Unicode
> N: symbol of C in a circle followed by the years and the copyright
> N: holder.
> """
>
> I don't believe this is true. It is just as valid to say,
>
> """
> This software was written by Joe Hacker and you can use it according to the
> following conditions.
> """
It's valid to say that, but it isn't a copyright notice.
> According to the relevant international conventions on copyright
> matters, copyright exists independent of it being mentioned explicitly,
> as you appear to believe.
No, that's not what I believe, nor is that what the lintian tag
description says.
You are not required to supply a copyright notice for a work to be
copyrighted. The only purpose of a copyright notice for the copyright
holder is, in some jurisdictions, to eliminate a defense of ignorance and
to increase the possibility of statutory damages.
However, *if* you want to provide a copyright notice, *then* you have to
provide a notice in that format, and notices in other formats do not
constitute a legally valid copyright notice.
> Please supply the reasons for your claim.
http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2006/03/msg00023.html as
referenced by http://ftp-master.debian.org/REJECT-FAQ.html
In that message, from Joerg in his capacity as ftp-master:
| Your debian/copyright file must contain the following information:
|
| - The author(s) name
| - The year(s) of the copyright
| - The used license(s)
| - The URL to the upstream source
Going from that to saying that debian/copyright should include a correct
copyright notice is a bit of a leap, but not much of one, as a valid
copyright notice is the best way of satisfying the first two requirements.
I'll clarify the long description to make it more obvious that this is a
Debian-specific requirement, not something required for a work to be
considered copyrighted.
--
Russ Allbery (rra@debian.org) <http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/>
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