From: Paul Robinson <[log in to unmask]>
Organization: Tansin A. Darcos & Company, Silver Spring, MD USA
-----
>> I'm sure people out there must post newspaper articles to your lists
>> routinely. Or maybe not. :-) But what to do? Can we do it? Who's
>> watching?  Where's the big brother? Should I add at the top of such
>> things "Reproduced here without permission" ?
 
> Chuck, A lot of discussion list and newsgroups do the sort of thing
> you are proposing--and they are clearly, unequivocally in violation
> of copyright.
 
Not True.  Specifically under the provisions of the Berne Convention for
the Protection of Literary Works, a person may - for certain reasons -
reproduce a portion of a work without the consent of the copyright owner.
Research and criticism is squarely within the provisions permitted under
the treaty.  Except for Russia, every industrialized country in the world
is a signatory member of the Berne Convention including (as of April 1,
1988) the United States.
 
> You are going about this the right way by asking for permission. You
> should continue to do so.  Why not simply post bibliographic references
> for the sources that you do not have permission to duplicate?  That's
> perfectly legitimate to do.
 
I can't see why it's even necessary to mention that it's legitimate to
include references to an article.  Also, it depends on the source and
availablility.  The {Washington Post} or the {New York Times} are probably
available worldwide.  Yet the {Washington Times} or the {Washington City
Paper} might be hard to come by outside the local area.
 
It depends also on the source of the work and quantity.  A single
three-column article in a one month period from a major newspaper is so
small an amount of usage as to be trivial.  Taking three pages a day from
the New York Times, on the other hand, is clearly excessive.
 
---
Paul Robinson - [log in to unmask]
-----
The following Automatic Fortune Cookie was selected only for this message:
 
Never let your schooling interfere with your education.