On Thu, 7 Sep 1995 17:39:49 EST, Bob Kosovsky wrote:
>Perhaps the "tradition of the Internet" has been to widely repost messages.
>But that has little effect on their copyright status.  Having seen a number of
>such discussions on various library-related lists, I'm fairly sure that an
>email message is a copyrightable work.  Under the current law, then, even if
>there is no copyright symbol or mention of "copyright by..." every email
>>posting is a copyrighted work.
 
So, is my quoting PART of your message a violation of your copyright or
fair use?  Which country's law are we invoking (Bob and I are in the US,
but the list that we're posting to is in Europe)?
 
If one of us want's to claim infringement, how easy is it going to be to
get an attorney to take us seriously?  Even if one of us has enought money
to waste on such an adventure (does anyone really belive that a contingency
fee attorney would take it on), what's the likelihood that a court would
sustain the notion?
 
If there's really an enforceable copyright, why can I still find images of
Calvin and Hobbes in ftp archives all over the Internet (as I recall, the
feature syndicate that DOES have a clear copyright to those images
attempted to assert that copyright several years ago)?
 
I'm NOT an attorney, and I recognize that everything that the law and
lawyers do doesn't square with common sense, but as a practical matter, I
don't think asserting a copyright for postings to public lists (something
sent privately to a handful of individuals *might* be different) is at all
feasible.
 
Debating the legal minutae has tended to overshawdow the ethical and moral
issue raised by the original question.  Regardless of copyright, reprinting
all or part of newsgroup or list messages without attribution IS plagarism.
It's WRONG regardless of whether the poster or list owner can or will
bring suit.  I would have preferred that the original question specify the
publisher who is plagarizing list mail, and I would like to know that a
polite request to cite sources in the future will be listened to.
 
/s Murphy A. Sewall <[log in to unmask]> (203) 486-2489 voice
   Professor of Marketing                          (203) 456-7725 fax
   http://mktg.sba.uconn.edu/MKT/Faculty/Sewall.html