Re: Reality of electronic copyright

> "Eugene Volokh" <VOLOKH[_at_]law.ucla.edu> writes:
>
> In a lot of the situations where the copyright owners don't mind
> there's no copyright violation. This is so, I think, under the
> implied license doctrine that was discussed a while back on this
> list. <snip>
>
> My point, I guess, is that it's certainly *possible* to use email
> and bulletin boards without violating the copyright law. Perhaps
> copyright law is still overbroad. But email and bulletin boards
> aren't really evidence that it is.

Just to draw a distinction, though... there's a difference in expectations when 1) posting an item to a newsgroup or bulletin board or mailing it to a listserver/mailing list and 2) forwarding personal electronic mail. In the former case, my expectation is that people may copy it, forward it, etc. The forum makes it public already. For personal electronic mail, however, I would *not* forward a message or post the message without permission since the general understanding (I think) is that the message is to me, not a public forum.

• Libby Evans uevans[_at_]med.unc.edu