Re: Unicode 11.0 added a special Copyleft symbol

[Paul Eggert]

On 06/11/2018 07:28 AM, Stefan Monnier wrote:
> The law is there to express an*intention*  that needs to be interpreted
> in the specific context where it is applied, and in the context of
> a mostly ASCII file, a "(C) together with a year and a name, appearing
> where copyright notices often appear"*is*  a copyright sign.

I would love it if judges followed common sense like that. Alas, they 
don't always, and it's generally better to play it safe rather than 
assume that a judge will follow one's own interpretation. Under US law 
it's pretty clear that "Copyright (C) 2018 Foo" is a valid copyright 
notice even though the "(C)" is legally immaterial. In other countries 
it might not be so clear. And even in the US, plain "(C) 2018 Foo" is a 
bit dubious; why tempt fate?

Although almost every country nowadays follows the Berne convention so 
notice is not required to obtain copyright, notice is still legally 
helpful (it might help plaintiffs get increased damages, say), and if 
you want that legal help the most bulletproof notice internationally is 
"©2018 Foo".