On Sun, 14 Apr 2002 13:19:45 -0700, Liz Marr <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>In today's litigious society (or at least the
>United States society), it would be nice to know just where things stand in
>these issues.

I'm not a lawyer nor do I play one on TV.  The real problem with copyright
issues with regard to various electronic forums (emial lists, Usenet
Newsgroups, 'chat' rooms, etc.) is that there is very little actual case law
that applies to these new methods of communication.

In general, every person who posts a message to a list, forum, etc. owns the
copyright on their own expression (message).  The mere act of posting
necessarily releases that to the 'public'.  The List-Owner also may claim a
'compilation' copyright on the sum total of messages arranged in the
particular manner of how the messages were posted to the list.  Beyond that
things get very complicated, very fast.