Some other copyright incidents that have happened on the nets.
- At least once, and perhaps twice, a university in California posted
the files from a copyrighted Shakespeare CD on an anonymous ftp server.
I know they got a cease and desist letter and removed the files once. But
I think I heard that someone reloaded them later.
- World Library sued Pacific Hi Tech for creating a cd from files it
obtained on the net that allegedly originated from the World Library CD.
- There was a site that posted the Billboard top 40 charts that got
a cease and desist letter and shut down.
- At least one internet site got a letter from the lawyers for Dame
Conan Doyle informing them that some Sherlock Holmes works were still
protected in the US by copyright and that Dame Conan Doyle would enforce
these copyrights if those particular works appeared on the internet.
- The publisher of an old encyclopedia on which the copyright has expired
have sent letters to a group producing an electronic version of the
encyclopedia trying to get them to sign a license because the name of
the encyclopedia is still protected by trademark.
These are the ones that come to mind right now. I know I've heard of
others. The larger the project, the higher the risk of being noticed.
If a work is still being commercially exploited, the higher the risk
of being noticed. And if the poster has any commercial connections,
the greater the risk of being noticed and action being taken.
But no matter how you look at it, it seems to me that there is pretty
clear evidence that the nets are being watched. It is not a situation
where you can say that no one will get sued or there are not any real
risks.
Mary Brandt Jensen 414 East Clark St.
Director of the Law Library Vermillion, SD 57069-2390
Professor of Law (605) 677 6363
University of South Dakota (605) 677 6357 fax
CNICOPY[_at_]CHARLIE.USD.EDU
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Received on Thu Dec 08 1994 - 20:57:42 GMT