Not to be pedantic, but I pay the bills with royalties checks from
intellectual property, so I have more than a passing familiarity with these
issues.
> I doubt that Bee-L can copyright any of it's
> members comments without the members approval.
Everything posted is automagically copyrighted.
Copyright protection for the author's work exists automatically from the
time a work is "fixed in a tangible medium", such as a Bee-L post. There is
no need for any "approval" under US law or under the Berne Convention.
There is not even a need for any act aside from the posting itself. Even a
copyright notice is not required. (While registering a copyright gives one
the ability to collect money damages from infringers, one can still get an
injunction to make an infringer stop without registration, without a
copyright notice, and without much trouble.)
> That said, Bee-L is an open source, freely shared
> Forum, so anything posted is being placed into
> the Public Domain
I am sure that this is just about everyone's intention, but this is not the
default assumption that can be made. One must ask on a case by case basis.
I can't imagine anyone saying no, moreso to someone just trying to make an
interesting newsletter for their local beekeeping association.
> I suppose a member could copyright every comment,
> but then he/she would have to inform Bee-L, and I'm
> not sure but that runs counter to the concept of an
> Informed Discussion Group.
Like it or not, each and every posting IS protected by Copyright, pretty
much planet-wide (at least in the 160 signers of the Berne Convention, and
all the WTO-member states who signed the "TRIPS" agreement.)
> Word for word lifting without attribution - that's Plagiarism.
> It's not a copyright issue.
Its both.
It's two, two... two mints in one!
Actually, lifting a small quote from a post would likely be "fair use" if
there was attribution, moreso of the person doing the lifting made some
comment or other about what was lifted, critical or supportive.
I have never minded anyone quoting anything I post here, and many people
have over the decades.
But someone might mind, and the simple courtesy of asking first should be
the norm.
Brad Tempelton, who made lots of people angry by having the gall to charge
money by subscription for news he sent over the internet back in the days
when "profiting from the internet" was said to be verboten, has a nice page
on Copyright myths:
http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html
***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html
|
