Computer Software and Copyright

13. Proper Copyright Notice

However, as mentioned in § 11, proper notice coupled with federal registration will greatly increase one's chances of prevailing in a lawsuit. Omission of proper copyright notice may enable a defendant in a lawsuit to claim the defense known as ³innocent infringement.² That is, a defendant may successfully claim that she was unaware that she violated a copyright. This could sometimes result in the defendant prevailing or, at the very least, limiting the amount of damages available. This defense would likely not be available if proper notice was used.

Therefore, if a computer program is to be marketed or distributed to multiple parties, it is highly recommended that it include proper notice. At the Berkeley Lab of course, DOE must first grant permission to the University of California to assert a copyright before any notice can be used.

Proper notice will contain the copyright symbol, or acceptable substitute; the year of first publication, described above; and the name of the author. If the program was published by a Berkeley Lab employee in 1996 the preferred notice would be:

or

or

Also acceptable as a subordinate choice is

or better yet

If the program is a revision of a previous work it might have two dates, one for the original work and one for the revision:

or it could have a range for several revisions.

Typically, the copyright notice will appear along with the title such as:

If the work is unpublished, notice might look like this.

13.1 Where Should Notice Appear in a Computer Program?

Finally, copyright notice should also appear on or near the first page of any manuals that accompany the computer program.

13.2 DOE Also Requires a Separate Notice

A notice reflecting this requirement must appear in the software and accompanying manuals for computer programs federally registered by the University of California . The notice should be in a prominent place in the source code and accompanying manuals.

The University of California¹s contract with DOE also requires a ³Restricted Rights Notice.² This notice covers Restricted Computer Software, which is defined as : ³. . . computer software developed at private expense and that is a trade secret; is commercial or financial and is confidential or privileged; or is published copyrighted computer software; including minor modifications of such computer software.²

This notice essentially dictates the conditions under which the U.S. Government has rights to the software. See the example in Appendix 3.

*Written by John E. Wehrli, formerly of the Patent Department, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Available as LBL Report No. 38995.