Re: copyrighting of an email

John Lederer <johnl[_at_]ibm.net> wrote:
>
> Does anyone else find a certain Kafkaesque touch in the fact that
> those who point out that copying of email is a copyright violation
> usually copy the prior email in their comments so as to maintain
> the thread of thought?
>
> Maybe our copyright system needs an overhaul?

The relatively spontaneous nature of this and other e-lists in effect makes the posts conversational utterances, no? Or do we extend copyright to what we say in speech to each other?? Under the old system, speech would be public domain because no copyright notice attached; but under the current system, less sure...

Or maybe again, is our audience on this list so small as to make posts a limited distribution rather than publication?

The absurdity of a lot of this (photographing my son in a t-shirt with a cartoon character, postcards whose unknown copyright holders don't indicate how they can be reached for permission, uncheckable claims of many dishonest publishing houses on reprinted maybe repunctuated works etc.) would point, yes, to the need for a radical overhaul.

Bill Thayer
<petworth[_at_]suba.com> Received on Wed Apr 30 1997 - 15:12:14 GMT