sunil@ut-ngp.UTEXAS (Sunil Trivedi) (06/25/85)
In article <1031@cae780.UUCP> gordon@cae780.UUCP (Brian Gordon) writes: > In article <907@sdcsla.UUCP> west@sdcsla.UUCP (Larry West) writes: > >Beth, you're confused. Legally, when someone sends you a letter, > >that letter belongs to you. If they wish you to keep something > >confidential, they'd best say so -- but you are still under no > >legal compunction to obey their wishes. And there may be very > >good reasons for not doing so. > I'm no lawyer either, but I am pretty sure that you own the piece of paper, > but that, unless explicitly released, the author still has common-law > copyright on the contents. Every now and then, the estate of someone > famous threatens to go to court to get back -- or at least block > publication of -- letters written to another individual. They are always > successful. Can anyone on net.legal help the controversy over "the rights of the sender & receiver over mail" which was brought up in net.nlang.india and net.women? Please also post any responses to net.nlang.india and net.women as these were the original forums [fora?]. All references to the topic can be found on the References line. Sunil Trivedi sunil@ut-ngp.ARPA {ihnp4,seismo,etc.} \ / ut-sally netword \ / ut-ngp | sunil