[sidewndr46]

This is not the case. If registration were required in the US, 99.999999% of software ever written would be effectively public domain.

[toast0]

The copyright rules have changed. Registration and a proper notice was required when this film was published.

Now, fixing a creative work in a tangible medium is all that's required. When does the copyright expire? Nobody will know, because there's no year of publication listed, and no author listed to find out when they die. (Even if there is an author listed by name, maybe it was me; maybe it was the Pulitzer Prize winning author)

[cobbzilla]

99.9999999% of software written is not published, it’s covered by trade secret law. Copyright only applies to published works. Look into what happens legally when source code is leaked and published.

[sidewndr46]

If copyright applies only to my published works, this would mean as long as you steal my laptop you now own the works on it. I'm certainly not publishing my diaries on the internet.

This has not been true for a very long time.

[graemep]

its covered by trade secret and copyright.

Software can simultaneously be covered by copyright, trade secret and patents. The patents have to disclose some info, of course.

Even when distributed you can distribute just the binary, and keep the source a trade secret.