Re: News items from a2central.com

[fadden@spies.com (Andy McFadden)]

In article <39A6B912.910B2646@inetnebr.com>,
Roy and/or Janet Miller  <millers@inetnebr.com> wrote:
>> As I understand the copyright law, Mrs. Bredon has the right to distribute this.
>> Glen was not an employee of Roger Wagner. He created this software on his own
>> and Roger Wagner was simply the distributor.
>
>I hope you are right. However, if RW was only a distributor, why are they listed as
>the copyright holder? Sometimes the copyright reverts once a work is no longer being
>published, I'm not sure of the particulars on that, but if that is the case, then
>the rights would belong to Mrs. Bredon. I eagerly await further news.


Owning the copyright and having the right to distribute copies are not
the same.

Generally speaking, a publisher is not going to go through all the trouble
of promoting a product unless they have an exclusive right to distribute
the product.  Otherwise, you could sign on with two or three publishers,
let them all promote what you're selling, and then turn around and sell
it yourself.

For example, I owned the rights to the HardPressed source code, but WestCode
Software was the only way to buy it.  They also held the trademark on the
name.  Before putting it up on my web site, I asked WestCode for permission.

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