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Subject:Copyright and the 'Net (2 From:Harold Snyder <ENSNYDER -at- ECUVM1 -dot- BITNET> Date:Mon, 20 Mar 1995 09:24:27 EST
Arlen,
Even though the author of any prose owns the rights to those prose until
those rights are transferred, the author is also responsible for any
libel judgments that may result from those prose. In both of these cases,
money is involved. In the former, the author receives compensation for
writing the prose; in the latter, whomever may have been libeled can
receive compenstion from the author--not because something was published
without prior approval <that's what the first amendment is all about>, but
because the prose defamed someone's reputation.
For illustration purposes, the Copyright Law applies to published material,
in both printed <book> form and compact disk <either book or music>. The
Copyright Law allows for something called "first use rights," which applies
to the purchaser of a copyrighted work. If I wanted to copy a song from a
CR to casette tape, the Copyright Law allows me to do this, so long as I
receive no compesnation for doing so <as in selling the tape upon which the
copyrighted song appears>.
Granted, it is a nice gesture <even the polite and courteous thing to do>
to get a sender's approval before forwarding a message, but the Copyright
Law doesn't require this. If the message proves to libelous, both the
sender and the forwarder may be held libelous, but the sender won't be
able to collect any damages for copyright infringement.
Best regards,
Hal <who relinquishes all copyright claims by merely posting this message
in the public domain; any and all who feel the necessity to forward this
message to others via e-mail <or even to other lists> may do so with a
clear conscience for not having infringed on my rights granted to me by the
U. S. Congress in the Copyright Act of 1974 (which is Title 17 of the U. S.
Code, section 102).
P. S. Do I have to get the sender's permission to "print" <as in dupliicate,
make a "hard" copy of> an e-mail message for my own personal use? No,
because the Copyright Law allows such "fair use" <the author is not
"cheated" out of any royalties> and it doesn't violate any libel laws for
my copying in no way defames the sender.
Like Paul said his audience "I've got a clear conscience." Am I off-base
in discerning between copyright issues and libel issues???
ENSNYDER -at- ECUVM1 OR ENSNYDER -at- ECUVM1 -dot- CIS -dot- ECU -dot- EDU
