Re: IEEE Copyright Form: any bypasses possible?

On 10/02/07, Dan Grayson <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> About your first question, above signature line (1) is written this:
>
>     The undersigned hereby assigns to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics
>     Engineers, Incorporated (the "IEEE") all rights under copyright that may exist
>     in and to the above Work, and any revised or expanded derivative works
>     submitted to the IEEE by the undersigned based on the Work.
>
> I point out the use of the word "may".  If signature line (2) is signed, that
> might assert that no trasnferrable rights under copyright exist, and the
> signed transferral in (1) ends up transferring no rights.

This is an interesting point, not very noticeable by non-native
English speakers, I guess. :)

But wouldn't me being a student and signing (2) create problems
insofar as the first part of the paragraph goes:

>>> This will certify that all authors of the Work are U.S. government
employees and prepared the Work on a subject within the scope of their
official duties.

, even if I agree with the second part:

>>> As such, the Work is not subject to U.S. copyright protection.

?


> As for your second question, we could try to apply the same logic as above, and
> it might imply that since the work is public domain, no rights exist to be
> transferred.  Alternatively, a judge might rule that the statement "this paper
> is public domain" is wrong, or the publisher might freely delete the statement
> before publication, or issue an erratum later nullifying it.  If you want to
> try that, it might be better to put the public-domain statement on the
> copyright transfer statement as an amendment to its text, made before signing,
> and initialed.
>
> But I'm not a lawyer and I'm just guessing.

As I am a student and have no relation to US government, would you
recommend that I sign the form in (1), and put a notice like

     This paper is entirely my own work.
     I have put it into the public domain.
     IEEE is therefore free to publish it.

right before or just below my signature?  Should I then include some
notice at the end of the paper, too? What wording would be appropriate
in such case? Does anyone have any examples of public domain papers
published in IEEE conference proceedings or journals?

Thanks,
Constantine.


> > Date: Fri, 9 Feb 2007 22:41:51 -0500
> > From: "Constantine A. Murenin" <[email protected]>
> > To: [email protected]
> > Subject: IEEE Copyright Form: any bypasses possible?
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
> > Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
> > Content-Disposition: inline
> >
> > Dear mathcopyright@,
> >
> > Are there any news on the IEEE Copyright Form front?
> >
> > I've had a paper accepted to IEEE ICNSC 2007, and they have the
> > following IEEE Copyright Form, which they indicate all authors must
> > complete:
> >       http://www.ieee-icnsc07.org/copy_right_%20form.pdf
> >
> > One of the things that is interesting about the form is that US
> > Government employees preparing the work within the scope of their
> > official duties are also required to sign this form -- I believe that
> > it is intended that they sign it in two places, one to certify that
> > they allow for the transfer of the copyright to take place, and the
> > other to certify that the work is in public domain by US law.
> >
> > Let me quote it from the form:
> >
> > > *U.S. Government Employee Certification (where applicable)*
> > > This will certify that all authors of the Work are U.S. government employees and prepared the Work on a subject within the scope of their official duties. As such, the Work is not subject to U.S. copyright protection.
> > > (2)_____________________________________________________________
> > > Authorized Signature
> > > ___________________________________
> > > Date
> > > (Authors who are U.S. government employees should also sign signature line (1) above to enable the IEEE to claim and protect its copyright in international jurisdictions.)
> >
> >
> > My questions are:
> >
> > 1. What will happen if a non-US government employee (e.g. a student)
> > will put the signature in both (1) and (2)?
> >
> > 2. What if I put a notice "This paper is public domain" at the end of
> > the paper between Acknowledgements and References sections, and sign
> > only (1)? In such case, would it matter which step is done first?
> > Would the paper then be public domain?
> >
> > Thank you,
> > Constantine A. Murenin, B.Sc. (Hons).
> >