Volume 2. No 1 
Information Technology News of the University of California, Davis October 1993
Copyright Quiz Answers
Give yourself five points for each correct answer.
- NO. Assuming that the magazine is copyrighted, all
of the information in the magazine is copyrighted, including
program listings. The publisher has given you permission only to
type the program into your computer and to run the program. If
the publisher gives readers explicit permission within the
magazine to copy the program and give it away (many publishers
do), you're in the clear.
- NO. Computer screens can be copyrighted, and
copyrighted screens are protected by the same laws as any
copyrighted material.
- YES. Randomly-generated computer graphics cannot be
copyrighted. Caution: the law does make a distinction between
randomly-generated computer graphics and computer- generated
animations. For instance, if you decide to capture After Dark's
"Flying Toasters," a computer-generated animation created by
human beings, you would be breaking the law.
- YES. The law does not take into consideration the
intentions of or the ignorance of the infringer. Even if you had
no idea that you were creating an exact duplicate of Lotus 1-2-3,
you would still be held accountable. It is your responsibility to
research the products that you wish to market to make sure they
are not currently copyrighted. The same rule holds true if you
make illegal copies of copyrighted software -- if you are caught
you will be prosecuted, even if you had no idea at the time you
made the copies that it was wrong to do so.
- NO. A law passed in 1990 states that no one can
rent, lease, or lend an original copy of copyrighted software to
another person without the permission of the copyright holder.
This law was passed because software pirates would rent copies of
copyrighted software packages once, make copies of them, and then
never rent the software again. Or, worse, they would make
numerous copies of the software and then distribute the copies
for their own gain.
(see "Scoring" next column)
Scoring
0-10 points -- Justice is blind, but that doesn't mean
that you should be as well. When it comes to a copyright lawsuit,
ignorance of the law is no excuse. To protect yourself, you may
wish to read some of the many books at the library that discuss
copyright law.
15-20 points -- You have a fairly good grasp of copyright
law. However, you have probably learned that copyright law can
have some very strange twists and turns.
25 points -- No fair peeking at the answers! Either that
or you must be a lawyer.