I'm having a bit of legal trouble with a CGI script. I just need a couple of questions answered.

If the script IS copyrighted:

Is it legal to change it a certain amount and then claim it as your own?

If so, how is it deemed whether or not enough has been changed to claim it as your own? Is there a percentage or something?

If the script IS NOT copyrighted:

Is it legal to simply copyright it yourself and claim it, legally, as your own?

Is it legal to change it a certain amount and then claim it as your own?


Thanks.

no to everything

That's good news. But if I have not got the script copyrighted, as far as the law is concerned, can I prove that it is not someone elses work?

Most coders insert a certain amount of "personality" to their scripts. This makes it easy to identify their stuff.

I can't code from scratch, but I often take free scripts and change them to my liking. Sometimes I change them a lot. Whenever I make any changes, I add the line "Modified for thewebsite.com by ATST" to the credits. That way the copywrite stays, and the original code writer dosn't get blamed if I turn the script into a PIG.

I'd just like to affirm akashik's opinion. You have copyright over any code that you produce and unless you specifically state that it is copyright free or under some kind of license (e.g. GPL) then no-one can use it or any (significant) part of it and then claim it as their own.

To claim damages against someone, you would have to prove that it is your own work that they have stolen (it's theft), as opposed to proving that it wasn't someone elses work. Documented evidence would be key here.

Your best bet, as always in issues that surround copyright and licensing, is to seek legal advice.

Uuummmm... Copyright laws are interesting. I think I read somewhere that if you change something like 60% of a copyrighted work, it then becomes copyrightable by you. At the same time, you should also know that licensing may also have an impact on what/how you can change the program.

Jay

Originally posted by ballofire
I think I read somewhere that if you change something like 60% of a copyrighted work, it then becomes copyrightable by you. If I create something and you take it and change 99% of it so that it's not even recognizable as being derived from the original, I still own the copyright. According to US copyright laws, anyway.