Re: Copyright Infringement Happening at Conference Group - Help!

From: Wired Heart <wiredheart[_at_]hotmail.com>
Date: Tue, 14 Jul 1998 04:39:32 PDT

On Mon, 13 Jul 1998, John H. Lederer <johnl[_at_]ibm.net> wrote:
>
> Would you like to take a stab at explicating why someone taking
> something off the web violates copyright, but your repeating of the
> entirety of Brigid's message does not?
>
> I really think that we made an error when we subcribed to the berne
> convention and made the assumption that all material is "copyrighted".
> Cleary the author does not intend that to be the case for some, and by
> asserting that all is without notice, we merely end up with no way to
> tell what it is wrong to copy and what it is not.
>
> Here in Wisconsin, we had for over a century a simple standard of
> trespass. It was illegal to enter land that was posted or that was
> fenced, but not illegal to enter open land. Recently the legislature
> changed the statutes. Now the law suffers from constantly being
> broken.

John, your paragraph:

> I really think that we made an error when we subcribed to the berne
> convention and made the assumption that all material is
> "copyrighted".

I don't think that is correct - that *all* material is copyrighted.

Does this mean - everything a person puts down on paper or keys in and sends (on use-net, listserv, e-mail) is copyrighted? I just sent several people in my department information on an upcoming event through our Lotus Notes. Does this mean it is copyrighted?

I think it gets confusing when it comes to e-mail and/or different forms of "written" communication. It does for me.

Could you indicate the specific text in the Berne Convention that remarks that "all material" is copyrighted? Is it all material by an author/artist? Or "all material" from just anyone? A five year old who crayons a picture?

I'm not trying to be difficult. I would really like to understand this better. I can't use the (copyright) law in defense of my work if I do not fully understand it.

Thank you. I appreciate all of the information that I've been receiving. I have learned much.

Brigid S. Delaney
<wiredheart[_at_]hotmail.com>

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Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com/ Received on Tue Jul 14 1998 - 11:39:35 GMT