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From: Hugh Messenger
Date: Thu, 5 Sep 1996 11:03:02 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: Re: Whining about copyright

On 5 Sep 1996, Winslow Yerxa wrote:

> Are you quite sure about that, Hugh? My understanding is that natural
> copyright consists in anything at its moment of creation, and that
> publication does not constitute surrender of copyright, even without a
> copyright notice.

OK, I should have been more specific. You are quite correct that under
existing law you have an automatic copyright on anything you post through
usenet or email. Technically you could sue me if I even forward a
copy on to someone electronically, or quote more than a certain
percentage of the text other than back at you.

However, to the best of my knowledge there has never been any precedent in
this area on the Internet, and that most legal opinion says that unless
you specifically insert a copyright notice, you would have very little
chance of winning a copyright suit, especially in the cases you cite.

Why? Because the courts only care about how much money you lost, or the
offending party gained, UNLESS some other specific infringement is
involved. So if you don't put a copyright which talks about "intellectual
property rights" (i.e. not monetary), and the offending party is putting
out a low volume newsletter which makes no money, you won't get much joy
from the legal system.

In other words, I'm talking about the practical application of the law,
and not the letter of it.

Also remember that I have to think / talk in international terms. The
letter of the law in the US is very different to that in France or the UK.
My interpretation of copyright law is a kind of "lowest common
denominator" approach, and not a US only one.

> If it's true that a copyright notice must be affixed
> in order to preserve copyright - as opposed to simply being a reminder,
> then I'm afraid that copyright bug will become part of my permanent
> header.

Rather than do that, can I suggest that owner-harp-l simply sends out a
bi-monthly reminder that EVERYTHING you read on harp-l is copyrighted to
the original author, and may NOT be reprinted anywhere except on harp-l
without the express consent of the original author.

I've been meaning to completely re-write the list README into a shorter
and pithier document which I can mail out every couple of weeks, anyway.

And if anyone is thinking about bitching about this discussion (I can feel
it coming), please don't. It is a necessary evil, and we must all be
aware of what is legal and what isn't. The first time harp-l becomes
involved in a law suite, I'm gonna quit. So lets all at least be aware
of the laws involved.

> Winslow Yerxa

-- hugh