multi-topic

Hello,

I subscribed a couple weeks ago to ask a question and have been unable
(well, unwilling) to unsubscribe because I find the discussions so
fascinating. In fact, I've been forwarding some of the talk to my friend Peter Berryman of Madison, WI, who made up the phrase (I mentioned previously) "Smell Our Dairy Air" which we feel would be good for Wisconsin's license plate. Peter, a writer of very witty songs and a keen observer, has remarked:

You quote the guy who sez: " I agree with you that putting something into the public domain is not all that easy to do. I have always advised the following for people who want to do this: 'The author makes no claim of copyright.'"

The problem with that is, the first opportunistic yahoo who sees it will rush out and copyright the thing for himself! The challenge is not how to get it into the public domain, but how to make it STAY there. Maybe "(c)1998 Nobody" would do it. Or maybe we should invent the "not copyrightable" or "copyrightless" or "copyfreely" symbol: the "c" with the circle around it, but with a slash thru it. Be GREAT for real folk music! Hmmm... Maybe I'll have a stamp made...

AND, Peter ASKS:

One question I've had for quite a while: who owns the copyright on correspondence? If I write you a letter, do you own the copyright? Or do I? Same question pertains to e-mail. How about letters to the editor? It seems that whoever owns the publication that prints the letters to the editor MUST own the copyright on those letters, otherwise they wouldn't print them. But how can that be? They didn't write the darn letters.

I'm writing a column for the local folk club's newsletter. I've only been doing it for six months or so, but I've already had this happen: I email someone & tell them I'm writing a column and request that they answer a question for me. They email me the answer. I print verbatim what they sent. They get pissed because I printed it. Huh?

This was on a very minor scale & was smoothed over quickly, but once again I wondered, what if this had been a big deal? And had gone to court. Who would have owned the copyright? Who would have won?

I have pretty much reverted to paraphrasing people instead of quoting them. Safer that way, in the area of copyright anyway.

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Any opinions? And thank you all for being so helpful, and entertaining.

Yerragh,

Michael Cooney
The Friendship Letter
(A neighborhood newsletter for people who don't live near each other
-- hints, tips, questions, answers, recommendations, and fun stuff.) PO Box 278, Friendship, ME 04547-0278
207/354-6971 mcooney[_at_]midcoast.com Received on Wed Apr 01 1998 - 02:54:59 GMT