On Fri, 16 Dec 1994, Aldo-Pier Solari wrote:
> I'd  need some advice on the following: To my surprise, I have found
> today that two US based lists have copied our FISH-ECOLOGY FAQ file.
> No courtesy to ask, no acknowledgements.
>
> Our FAQ file is a document which  took me *many* hours to write down
> and shape to a clear & loud high quality one.  English *is* my third
> language and I did the work with full dedication.  Now, I  find  out
> that two Listowners with English as their native language just would
> copy the document.
>
> I feel offended for this and I would like to know [just for the sake
> of cultural differences] what advice the Seniors may provide on this
> issue.    Also,  there  was  a  clear  violation  of  our  intrinsic
> copyrights.
 
As I see it, you have two choices.  Place more restrictions on your list
(question for those who know, does Notebooks= private also restrict access
to the filelist?) or sue for infringement (this is assuming you have
voiced your displeasure to the offenders to no good result).
 
As to a lawsuit, Spain is a signatory to the Berne convntion, isn't it?
You should be covered there, but in the US it is difficult to win damages
if you haven't registered your copyright, despite what Berne says, and you
haven't suffered any monetary loss.  I don't know what the case would be
if you tried it under Spanish law, or Swedish, since that's where your
list is, isn't it?  In any case, you'ld need lots of spare cash to spend
on this and the best you might come out with would be a court order for
the offending files to be deleted and an order not to do it again.  But
that won't stop someone else from doing it.
 
The most practical answer is to restrict access to the exent you think
practical for your list and it's needs and bear with violations as best
you can.
 
If you have complained to those who misappropriated your FAQs to no avail,
you could try complaining to the sites that host the lists.
 
As to the copyright question on the Internet, you could check with the
copyright list ([log in to unmask]), but there's been a lot of
speculation about this, but no one knows, as there have been no good court
cases on this sort of thing (and really, everyone is just dying for some
good cases so things can start to be resolved, one way or the other).  So,
you would get opinion, but not much else.
 
You might try JUDGES-L@ubvm .  I believe they are set up primarily to
handle disputes between listowners and subscribers (don't really know),
but since your gripe is with other lists they might take it on. All they
can really do is arbitrate and I imagine they require all parties to abide
by their decision (again, don't know) but you could give them a try.
 
        Douglas Winship    Austin, Texas    [log in to unmask]
                    Secondary AUTOCAT Listowner
                              MEDLAB-L