our little daemon abused as symbol of the evil

[Dag-Erling Smørgrav]

Bernd Walter <ticso at cicely7.cicely.de> writes:
> There is no copyright in Germany.

Yes, there is.  Germany is signatory to the Berne convention.

> I'm not a lawyer, but there are many differences to copyright and I
> think the main one is that the German system automatically protects
> without the need to explicitly declare copyright.

So does copyright.

> E.g. there is not need to add copyright lines in sourcecode to prohibit
> others to republish your code in Germany.

It is not necessary anywhere in the world.  It is still a good idea,
just like it's a good idea to mark your laptop with indelible ink, even
though stealing it is just as illegal if you don't.

> Another difference (to my knowledge) is that the author never looses his
> right (though there are a few rules about age and inheritage) - no
> matter how much it is spread.

The same goes for copyright (author's lifetime + 70 years)

> The author can't even sell it, all he can do is sell the right to use it.

I'm pretty sure there are provisions for "work for hire".

> You can easily loose copyright and trademarks if you don't care about
> it, but you don't loose your author rights.

You can *not* lose copyright through dilution, only trademarks.

At worst, you might lose an infringement suit if the defendant can show
that you knew about *that particular case* long before you filed suit,
but it would not invalidate your copyright, nor would it diminish your
standing in other suits against other infringers.

DES
-- 
Dag-Erling Smørgrav - des at des.no