Client misunderstanding of public domain

[Traci Pearson <pearsontechcomm -at- comcast -dot- net>]

Aargh!
I've got a client who insists that I use content 
that is posted on the Web in a manual I'm doing 
for them. Not only that, they want me to edit the 
content to match the style of their manual.

The writer of the content on the Web is someone 
they know and, apparently, he said they could use 
his manual (what he has posted on the web) to 
give to their (my client's) customers if they wanted.

I told my client they'd better get express 
permission, preferably in writing, to actually 
use that content in their own manual (which will 
have my client's copyright on it) as well as permission to edit that content.

One of their (my client's) managers said, No, 
they don't have to. It's posted on the Internet 
and therefore it is now "public property."

Obviously, this isn't so. But my notes from my 
Law classes are buried in the basement and I 
can't remember the Act that spells this out. 
(And, honestly, there's probably been new laws 
that spell this out since I took those notes!)

Can anyone help me out here? I don't want to get 
into a moral/ethical/legal issue here with my 
client, so I'd like to point them to a source 
where they can read for themselves that Internet 
content is by no means necessarily public domain.

Thanks!

Traci Pearson
Pearson Technical Communication
Writing, Editing, Information Design ? Print and Online
pearsontechcomm -at- comcast -dot- net
(303) 410-9101

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great effort went into its writing.
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