henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer) (02/07/86)
> > Material posted to USENET is the copyright > > property of the poster under U.S. statute. > > How can that be? If I post something here, copyright means I have the > right to control copies. But the very nature of the Net implies massive > copying out of my control, and I know that. So, haven't I given > implicit privileges to others, merely by posting? No more than you give such privileges to others by, say, publishing an article in Scientific American. By arranging for its publication, you have consented to the copying inherent in that particular operation. But you have not given away your control over its copying for other purposes. > Let me ask a different way. At what point has someone who saves my news > posting committed a copyright violation? In saving it? Giving it to a > friend? Reposting it with changes? Where do you draw the line? At the point where the use being made of the posting is no longer something which is implicit in the act of posting it, I would guess. Think of it as a radio broadcast: taping it for personal use is probably all right, copying the tape for a friend is very dubious, rebroadcasting it on your own radio station is absolutely out, except perhaps for short excerpts quoted in review and commentary. There are undoubtedly borderline cases where it would be hard to judge; copyright law doesn't address things like electronic bulletin boards very well yet. The underlying principle of "thou shalt not shaft the author" is a reasonable guideline. Beware: I am not a lawyer. Consult an expert before doing anything rash. -- Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology {allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!henry
jeff@rtech.UUCP (Jeff Lichtman) (02/10/86)
> >> > Material posted to USENET is the copyright >> > property of the poster under U.S. statute. >> >> How can that be? If I post something here, copyright means I have the >> right to control copies. But the very nature of the Net implies massive >> copying out of my control, and I know that. So, haven't I given >> implicit privileges to others, merely by posting? > > No more than you give such privileges to others by, say, publishing an > article in Scientific American. By arranging for its publication, you > have consented to the copying inherent in that particular operation. > But you have not given away your control over its copying for other > purposes. > -- > Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology Every issue of Scientific American contains the following statement: "Copyright (C) 1986 by Scientific American, Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in the U.S.A. No part of this issue may be reproduced by any mechanical, photographic, or electronic process, or in the form of a phonographic recording, nor may it be stored in a retrieval system, transmitted, or otherwise copied for public or private use without written permission of the publisher." I trust that Scientific American won't sue me for copying their copyright notice. :-) The point is that, with few exceptions you must affix a copyright notice to a work when you publish it if you want to retain copyright. I don't know what a court would say about USENET; my guess is that the news system would be considered a form of publication, and that the author should be protected from unauthorized copies made outside of the USENET system, as long as a copyright notice were attached to the original. Here's a question: Suppose the line eater swallows someone's copyright notice? What protection does the author have? -- Jeff Lichtman at rtech (Relational Technology, Inc.) "Saints should always be judged guilty until they are proved innocent..." {amdahl, sun}!rtech!jeff {ucbvax, decvax}!mtxinu!rtech!jeff
craig@dcl-cs.UUCP (Craig Wylie) (02/10/86)
Just as a matter on note :- What happens to the stuff that lands up over here (UK), or in France Australia, etc ... I would love to know. I'm going to check with the law dept. here to see if they have any idea. Craig. -- UUCP: ...!seismo!mcvax!ukc!dcl-cs!craig| Post: University of Lancaster, DARPA: craig%lancs.comp@ucl-cs | Department of Computing, JANET: craig@uk.ac.lancs.comp | Bailrigg, Lancaster, UK. Phone: +44 524 65201 Ext. 4146 | LA1 4YR Project: Cosmos Distributed Operating Systems Research