Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Re: CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO Archive CD

Hi Nic;

You might want to update your info regarding copyright laws. The
newsgroups and archive sites operate under implied license and fair
use. By definition, anything you write after the new laws and treaties
were in place is automatically considered a copyrighted work. There is
no declaration, registration, or defense requirement as in some of the
older laws and treaties. Under the Berne copyright convention, all new
work is considered to be copyrighted unless explicitly released to the
public domain. The work does have to be registered in many cases to
persue legal action against an infringer, but the failure to register
does not nullify the copyright.

For starters, take a look at the information regarding copyright that
Yahoo publishes, as this is the host for our little piece of the world:

http://support.sbcglobal.net/general/newsgroup_bb/1198.shtml

Fair use is covered pretty well for a nutshell blurb.

Take a look at:

http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html

for some specific usenet info. This site also has links and some other
pages worth a look.

You might also be interested in taking a look at:

http://www.faqs.org/faqs/law/copyright/faq/part1/

and the subsequent parts of this FAQ. Section 3.8 specifically deals
with newsgroups, and offers some opinions regarding the impact of fair
use and impled license. The author also points out the somewhat obvious
fact that as there is almost never a case where a single post has such
commercial worth that it justifies a court case. Until cases are heard,
appealed, and resolved, the newgroup copyright issues will remain
somewhat vague. I happen to like this FAQ as it points out weak areas,
unlike the sites which simply cut and paste the copyright laws all over
the place with assorted links. Unfortunately, this FAQ is from 1994, so
more recent rulings and legislative changes are not included.

Newsgroups and mail lists are not by definition public domain, and by
posting to such a group you do not abandon your copyright. It is the
implied license and fair use aspects that make this whole area a grey
one, not the absense of copyright protection. Quoting the previous
post(s) comes under fair use, selling copies of it does not. Automated
forwarding of the messages in a manner consistent with usenet
propogation is an expected result of posting, hence implied license.
Selling a copy of an archive is rather different.

Stan

Nic van der Walt wrote:

>
> >Anything you write is automatically copyright material unless you
> >specifically place the information in the public domain. While many
>
> Wrong, mailing lists and newsgroups are public domain. Do you think
> Google hosts a newsgroup archive illegally?
>
> Even if you claim copyright on a post to a public forum it doesn't
> become
> copyrighted.
>
> An archive distributed on any medium at any cost is legal as long as the
> distributor identifies the source (CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO in this case) and
> each
> author. This means that stripping out the email addresses would be
> illegal.
>
> Censoring the archive, i.e. stripping out specific topics or authors is
> a
> grey area.
>
> >archives in a catalog with a marketing banner such as "The wisdom of
> the
> >legendary CCED group all in one place! Dozens of authors! Linux/EMC!
> >CAD! Code snippetts! ...", and a price of $99? Going to wonder if your
> >stuff is in this?
>
> As long as he doesn't claim it's his own work there is nothing you can
> do
> about it.
>
> If you think it's too expensive start selling cheaper copies yourself.
>
> >Going to wonder where your share of the money is?
>
> You lost any claim to imagined revenue when you posted to a public list.
>
> Remember this is not about your copyright on an actual idea. It is just
> redistribution of your posting. He is not claiming he wrote the posting,
> only distributing it. You may aswell try to sue every email gateway that
>
> passed on your email.
>
> >Dropping mills on folks for suggesting that intellectual property laws
> >should be respected seems rather inappropriate.
>
> About as silly as this whole topic is yes.
>
> >Start an email campaign to get the laws changed.
>
> The laws are fine. What we need is an education campaign.
>
> Nic.
>

<snip>