[Year 12 SofDev] Copyright of software interesting query

[Kevork Krozian]

Hi Folks,

    Ever get the feeling someone is watching you  ........?????/

OK, just marked the mobile device SAC in which there was a question on
copyright of the software module. Specifically, we have consultants
going out to clients with a brand new program. Owner is worried clients
might steal the "program".

 There were 2 aspects to the question. Since the 'program' is in PHP
and running from a web server you can't steal it with the mobile device
as it is server side ( as opposed to client side). That means if you
were to "view source" on the browser none of the server side code would
be visible. Of course the consultants had no access to the web server to
see the pages on the server so that was not a problem. That part was
ok.

The other part was about how to copyright the software to protect it.
Now we have taught and understand that copyright does not have to be
applied for specifically and is automatic. Programs are considered
literary works.

The student answered this part with " To protect his business from his
consultants the owner could have copyright placed on his software and
contract ...... ".

I took off 1 mark ( the only mark he lost BTW )  because as mentioned
copyright does not have to be EXPLICITLY applied for to protect
software. The Copyright Amendment (Digital Agenda) Act 2000 covers this.
 

Then out came the BIG GUNS. It seems the student's father worked in
software development in industry and he told the student that when they
wrote software they had to explicitly place a copyright notice on the
software to protect it otherwise it could be copied.  So now the
argument was reduced to one of whether the copyright notice ( with or
without the copyright sign * ) is needed to protect the software. The
father said yes, the teacher said no. 

The teacher argued:  " The business owner does not need to have
copyright placed on his software as it is automatic .." . 
The student argued ( nothing like being fortified by a parent) :  " I
meant the copyright notice could be placed on the software but does not
have to be ..... ".
We both stood our ground.

To cut a short story long a quick search produced the document
http://www.copyright.org.au/pdf/acc/infosheets_pdf/G050.pdf
that states :

"On some works you see the *copyright notice*: the symbol * with
the name of the copyright owner and the year
of first publication (for example, * Will Doors 2005). If the computer
software is updated over time, the copyright
notice may reflect that (for example, * Will Doors 2003-2005).
The copyright notice is not required for protection in Australia; a
work may be protected even though the
copyright notice is not on it.
It is a good idea to put the copyright notice on computer
software*both on the packaging and in the program
itself*as it serves as a warning to others that the software is
protected by copyright. In addition to the
copyright notice, you may want to include a more detailed warning
against unauthorised use." 

There we have it. The copyright notice does not have to be placed on a
program to protect it. 

So we agreed it is a good idea to have the notice on it, but not
specifically required to protect the software as the student wrote " the
owner COULD have copyright placed .. ". 

I gave him the mark :)) but warned against loose language in future
SACs and especially the exam as the examiners will not be so generous.

Take Care



Kevork Krozian
IT Manager , Forest Hill College
k.krozian at fhc.vic.edu.au
http://www.fhc.vic.edu.au
Mobile: 0419 356 034