On Thu, 24 Apr 1997, Matthew Watters <watters[_at_]prtaxp.unl.edu> wrote:
>
> In the gray area are postings such as this, to a *copyright*
> listserv. Arguably, these are within the broadest scope of my
> employment--my supervisor is aware of and approves of my
> participation in this list, and the subject matter [copyright] is
> certainly related to the purpose of my employment. But, postings
> to CNI-copyright are certainly far distant from the core duties of
> my position. They are entirely optional and within my discretion.
> Who owns the copyright to *this* message?
I have a couple of reactions. The first is, on a practical level, who cares? I would think that the issue of copyright ownership in employer-employee contexts would normally come up in works where there is some commercial value in the work. The second reaction is a hypothetical: let's make some assumptions. Assume that Matthew wrote a wonderful message to the list. Assume further that Matthew's employer didn't claim any copyright ownership but Matthew did. Assume someone else copied the message in its entirety and published it. Assume the copier infringed and there was no fair use. Could the infringer claim that, regardless of no claim of ownership by Matthew's employer, that Matthew did not own the copyright and therefore could not sue?
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