At 08:05 PM 1/16/96 -0500, you wrote:
>At 10:36 AM 1/16/96 -0800, Terence L. Day  wrote:
>>Are you sure that the repost of the RMN story wouldn't fall within the fair
>>use doctrine?  If print media is analogous, you are arguing that clipping
>>one short article out of a newspaper and sharing it is a violation of
>>copyright.
>
>This is more than just sharing because it's republication. Remember that
>this listserv (and others) are archived. Posting a copyrighted article here
>without permission is electronically republishing it -- without the owner's
>permission -- in an archive accessible from anywhere on the Internet. It is
>not clipping one short (by the way, length is not a factor) article out of a
>newspaper and sharing it in the physical sense.

It certainly is in the interest of some people to assert this, but the
courts have not yete considered the issue and I don't believe laws have been
passed to specifically address the issues introduced by electronic storage.
At least I'm not aware of same.

I don't think it is at all clear that electronic archiving is any different
than atom archiving.  If I clip an article from a newspaper or magazine and
include it in an achived file of articles on a particular subject I haven't
violated anyone's copyright.  Now comes the question of whether someone
violates copyright when they retrieve the article and make a Xerox copy of
it.  (Sorry, I've just violated someone's trademark.  It is not an easy
world we live in!)  And what's the difference between doing this on paper
and doing it electronically, escept the ease with which we can find and copy
the article?

It's fine to assert that posting to a list such as this constitutes
republication.  Again, it is in some people's interest to make that
assertion.  But, again, I don't think it is clear that this is the same as
republication in the atomistic sense.

>
>If you want to get permission, OK. If you want to point to the owner's URL,
>excellent. If you want to excerpt, you may fall under the 'fair use'
>doctrine. But republishing an entire copyritten article is egregious.
>
>[If I seem testy about this, it's coincidentally because I today discovered

You don't seem testy at all.  Hope I don't either.

>that someone last month had reposted to the 'alt.media' newsgroup the
>full-text of one of my 'online-news' postings, and done it as if it was
>their own posting, with no quotation marks or credit or reference to me.

The more relevant issue here, I should think, is that of plagarism.

>Tipped off this by a friend, I discovered this thanks to an Altavista search
>which also showed me that 'online-news' is being archived in, at least, a
>dozen locations on the Internet (perhaps many without Steve's permission or
>awareness?).]
>_________________________________________________
>Vin Crosbie         FreeMark Communications, Inc.

Perhaps it's time for me to reveal my hand in this debate.  I've been
arguing at an almost extreme side of the debate, but have done so to offset
arguments at the other end.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, as a genealogy columnist I have an
interest in strict interpretation of copyright, especially since I do not
sell my copyright to the papers that publish my column.  I retain copyright.
But I also have, both as a journalist and as a "common citizen," an interest
in reasonable fair use.  I don't have qualms about e-copying an entire
newspaper article to share with a dozen friends on the Internet.  Copying an
entire article to thousands is another matter.  I don't know where I stand
on the archive question.  Does the fact that a discussion group is archived
make a difference?  I don't know.  What I'm really hoping for is some middle
ground.

Terry
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Universities don't have opinions, which 
makes it fortunate that I have an ample supply.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Terence L. Day, 509/335-2806 (Office voice), 509/335-2863 (Office fax),
509/334-1619 (Home).  SE 635 Steptoe St., Pullman, WA 99163
Internet:   or 
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


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