[Tex/LaTex] How to remove the copyright box on a paper that uses the ACM sig-alternate.cls class file

acmcopyrighttitles

The ACM provides a LaTeX template called sig-alternate.cls (webpage, class file). The current version is 2.4 released in April, 2009.

I would like to submit a paper for review using this class file. Unfortunately, the class file reserves some space at the bottom of the first page in the first column for a copyright notice. This copyright notice is required for the camera ready version of the paper, but not for the initial paper submission. How can I remove this copyright notice and reclaim this space?

Best Answer

Use the etoolbox package and its \patchcmd macro to selectively change sig-alternate' s definition of \maketitle, i.e. remove the \@copyrightspace macro (which is responsible for the copyright space).

\documentclass{sig-alternate}

\usepackage[english]{babel}
\usepackage{blindtext}

\usepackage{etoolbox}
\makeatletter
\patchcmd{\maketitle}{\@copyrightspace}{}{}{}
\makeatother

\begin{document}

\author{lockstep}
\title{How to remove the copyright space}
\maketitle

\blinddocument

\end{document}

(The blindtext package is only used to add some dummy text to the example.)

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