> > In theory once a person posts a message to the list they
> are essentially
> > giving it up to the public domain, and removing any
> exclusive copyright
> > they had on their message unless they prohibit (through
> email headers
> > and other means) archiving of their messages.
>
> I'd sure like to see that preceedent. My understanding was
> that all material
> is copyrighted unless explicitly revoked.

I think you are right. Copyright is a form-free right (no special
measures, formats, phrases etc. needed), which comes into existence at
the very momement a text (or the like) is made public. Patents on the
other hand are killed by 'prior knowldedge', which includes (but is not
limited to) all prior publications. AFAIK there is no way to 'remove' a
copyright, but you can achieve the same effect by giving an appropriate
license (read the various free license texts to see how this can be
formulated).

Wouter van Ooijen

-- ------------------------------------
http://www.voti.nl
PICmicro chips, programmers, consulting

--
http://www.piclist.com hint: The list server can filter out subtopics
(like ads or off topics) for you. See http://www.piclist.com/#topics