Re: Re: Copyright on news services

    I was wondering about the possibility of unbundling a news wire. Suppose., for example, you wanted to create an electronic newspaper at UNC that would distribute to each law professor only what he/she wanted to read. Then, a computer program would divvy up the AP wire, or whatever, and send those stories along to that person. There would then be multiple combinations from the AP wire. Now, suppose you wanted to sell such a service. Is there a difference, legally, in doing it in-house and doing it for-profit. Along the same lines, what if the UNC system bought one AP wire system but subdivided and distributed it to anyone within the UNC system. Could it be done, legally, now?

    Thanks for your thoughts, and sorry to be so slow in responding. I was visiting family in SC over the holidays.

Trip

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Date sent:      Tue, 21 Dec 93 12:49:01 -0500
Subject:        Re: Re: Copyright on news services

Trip,

   I am a little uncertain about your terminology when you say "at least one subscription of the electronic service" has been published. If you mean, is it permissible  to use subscriptions and repackage them for further distribution, the answer depends on your licensing agreement. That is, assuming that the news service is a commercial service and charges a subscription rate.

   Another factor is what is your purpose? Are you a nonprofit organization of some type? Or, are you a free lance librarian or commercial entity of any type?

   Lolly Gasaway, Dir. of the Law Lib. & Prof. of Law Univ. North Carolina Received on Mon Jan 03 1994 - 21:47:32 GMT