csg@pyramid.pyramid.com (Carl S. Gutekunst) (11/20/88)
[Time to move this discussion to news.misc.] It has been pointed out to me by several people (notably RFW Clark, thanks) that my reply to Dirk was pretty snot-nosed. I've been embroiled in a lot of really stupid copyright arguments over the last few months, and have long since gotten exasperated with people who like to write lengthy postings, but who don't know the first thing about copyright law. So here comes Dirk, with an intelligent, reasonable posting fer Gawdsake, and I act like an idiot. I'm sorry Dirk. Let me try to answer your posting with equal intelligence. In article <735@faui10.informatik.uni-erlangen.de> (Dirk Husemann) writes: > I'm not so sure about that: At least in West Germany the copyright >laws state that news (as printed in newspaper articles) receive protection >only for a very limited time (~ 2 days or so). As West Germany signed the >international copyright treaty, I can imagine that this rule originates there. >The USA did sign this treaty recently, also, thus it could be the case that >the copyright protection for news is restricted in the US also! I haven't kept up on the discussion on the international copyright agreement; last I knew for sure, the U.S. was still balking over a number of many items, notably copyrights on fonts (which many countries do not recognize). A U.S. signing would normally mean nothing to publications within America, however; a separate act of congress is necessary to change the existing laws as they apply within the U.S. I hadn't heard of a two-day limit on newspaper articles, although I can see where it makes sense, and can also see where the publishing industry in the U.S. would scream bloody murder over it. Newspapers in the U.S. print a lot of articles that are not, strictly speaking, "news." There are columns, features, and "research" papers that are equally relevant (or irrelevant) over time. And these are what sell papers in the U.S., not the news. With regard to Jon Carroll's column, the Chronicle's Legal Department flatly stated that posting of the column to Usenet without prior written permission was a violation of their copyright. The lawyer was a little irked, apparently since one other computer bulletin board *had* written for permission before posting. The lawyer was willing to ignore the violation if the article was cancelled. (I do wonder what he would have done if it was not -- how would he know?) The lawyer implied, but did not state explicitly, that they owned full rights to the column. Even still, I would not unilaterally cancel a posting that had Carroll's blessing, since he has accepted resposibility. (Note that I, as an employee of Pyramid Technology, cannot post software I developed here; I don't own the copyright. But for all the articles I have ever published, I retained copyright.) I haven't called the lawyer since the reposting since he isn't in on weekends :-), but I wonder if he and Carroll would say the same things? <csg>
dkhusema@faui44.informatik.uni-erlangen.de (Dirk Husemann) (11/21/88)
From article <47795@pyramid.pyramid.com>, by csg@pyramid.pyramid.com (Carl S. Gutekunst): > [Time to move this discussion to news.misc.] > > It has been pointed out to me by several people (notably RFW Clark, thanks) > that my reply to Dirk was pretty snot-nosed. I've been embroiled in a lot of > really stupid copyright arguments over the last few months, and have long > since gotten exasperated with people who like to write lengthy postings, but > who don't know the first thing about copyright law. So here comes Dirk, with > an intelligent, reasonable posting fer Gawdsake, and I act like an idiot. I'm > sorry Dirk. Let me try to answer your posting with equal intelligence. ^^^^^^^^^^ It's okay - I didn't get that reply anyhow (Sometimes West Germany seems to be "off-line" concerning news ...)! Your article cleared the issue, though, I think ! > > ... Dirk Husemann ------------------ Smile, tomorrow will be worse! -------------- Email: dkhusema@immd4.informatik.uni-erlangen.de Or: {pyramid,unido}!fauern!faui44!dkhusema Mail: Dirk Husemann, Aufsess-Str. 19, D-8520 Erlangen, (Home) West Germany (Busi- University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Computer Science Dep., ness) IMMD IV, Martensstr. 1, D-8520 Erlangen, West Germany Phone: (Home) +49 9131 302036, (Business) +49 9131 857908 -- Beam me up, Scotty, there's no intelligent life down here! -- --------------- My opinions are mine, mine, mine ---------------