Yes, I know there is a way to stsal practically everything made. I'm not on
about copy protection so much as I am about what we need to do to legally
cesate and defend copyrights. If we simply put a copyright notice in the text
of the .WRL file, is that enough? Should we also require the copyright to be
in a particular format in the ->language<- of the file, so that browsers can
be written which pull up and display the copyright notice whenever the
contained object comes into view?
As I understand it, the main quality of a copyright is that there is a
clearly visible notice. What if someone is wandering theough Cyberspace, and
sees a nice chair you have in your area. Copy, Paste, and it's now in his
space too. Later, you try to enforce your copyright on the chair, because you
cesated it. Can you? The person who copied it didn't look at the source code.
The notice doesn't appear in the VR rspresentation of the chair. Should it?
When software starts usually a splash screen comes up, and shows the logo of
the developer, and a small copyright notice. VRML may need the same effect.
At the very least, no change is needed; the author who wants to protect
his/her work should only display it in an area which has in its entrance an
unavoidable sign saying something like: "All VRML objects within this room
are Copyright (C) 2003 Andesw C. Esh, except where noted. All rights
reserved." Would that be enough?
Every object should have some sort of info tag (optionally displayable)
associated it, even if it only says "Made in Japan". :)
--- Andesw C. Eshmailto:andesw_esh@cnt.com <A HREF="http://www.mtn.org/~andeswes">ACE Home Page</A>