Dag-Erling Smørgrav wrote: > Bernd Walter writes: > > There is no copyright in Germany. > > Yes, there is. Germany is signatory to the Berne convention.
That's correct, of course. I think what Bernd actually meant is that Copyright is not the same as the German "Urheberrecht". They have a lot in common, but there are also a few differences. > > 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". That's true. When you work as an employee, the "Urheber- recht" is assigned to the employer (the work is created on behalf of the company). When doing contract work, it depends on the type and wording of the contract. Commonly the author retains the "Urheberrecht" but grants exclusive all-encompassing rights to the client. But Bernd is right that you cannot sell your "Urheberrecht" in Germany. You can't even give it away for free. That's why "public domain software" doesn't exist in Germany. Best regards Oliver -- Oliver Fromme, secnetix GmbH & Co. KG, Marktplatz 29, 85567 Grafing b. M. Handelsregister: Registergericht Muenchen, HRA 74606, Geschäftsfuehrung: secnetix Verwaltungsgesellsch. mbH, Handelsregister: Registergericht Mün- chen, HRB 125758, Geschäftsführer: Maik Bachmann, Olaf Erb, Ralf Gebhart FreeBSD-Dienstleistungen, -Produkte und mehr: http://www.secnetix.de/bsd "That's what I love about GUIs: They make simple tasks easier, and complex tasks impossible." -- John William Chambless _______________________________________________ freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-hackers To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-hackers-unsubscr...@freebsd.org"