On Sat, 5 Jun 1993 01:46:14 -0400 Joan Korenman said:
>        Does anyone know what the legal status is of e-mail messages on a
>public e-mail list?  Do they "belong" to the writer?  The listowner?  No
>one?  Can someone legally quote (in a scholarly book or article) messages
>posted on a public e-mail list without obtaining the consent of the people
>who wrote them?  Against the wishes of the people who wrote them?
>
   This has been discussed ad nauseam on many lists, including this one,
as a respondent has already pointed out.  You might wish to raise it
(again) on cni-copyright.  My best understanding is that all writing is
the property of the author unless the copyright has been assigned
elsewhere.  However, people seem to forget that there is 'fair use'
copying of text in all sorts of scholarly media, and has been for
hundreds of years.  Didn't you quote some folks in term papers, theses,
or articles?  Of course you did.  And you did NOT ask permission of the
authors for brief quotes.  It seems clear that this is a public medium.
Many lists have many more subscribers than all sorts of specialist
poetry or technical magazines.  Remember, I am NOT a lawyer, and even
if I were there would be a few dozen others who might disagree.  o-)
 
dan
 
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