On Thu, 27 Oct 1994, W. K. (Bill) Gorman wrote:
> Does anyone have any reliable information as to what the copyright
> status of list postings is, or can be?
>
> W. K. (Bill) Gorman
> List Owner:  FELINE-L, CANINE-L, EQUINE-L
 
For the US and other signatories to the Berne convention the author of
an original creation (most email like this) has copyright from the moment
of creation, no registration required, and publication without registration
does not invalidate the copyright.  However, winning a lawsuit for
infringement of a nonregistered copyright is difficult.
 
There are many positions on the copyright of email distributed by lists,
but there is no real "law" as there hasn't been a court case yet.  My
position, and that of some others, is that the posters to our list
retain copyright to their original work, but you can get lot's of
argument on that.  It really is a matter to take up with the copyright
list ( [log in to unmask] ) but it has been discussed before and,
as I said, there hasn't been a court case yet so no one really knows,
and the lawyers on the list will only express their opinions, as I have
done here.
 
So, decide your policy for your lists and stick to it until there is a
definitive court case.  Unless your policy is really wierd, no one can
say you are wrong as no one knows for sure.
 
        Douglas Winship    Austin, Texas    [log in to unmask]
                    Secondary AUTOCAT Listowner