Jon wrote:
> Nick, how exactly do you hold a copyright on your posts to the > list? As a > public net forum, I would think that copyrights don't apply here?
Nick replied:
In any Berne Convention country, an author/creator automatically hasIn some cases, if you post on a "private" service such as Compuserve or AOL, then you and that service share copyright, and permission for reposts must be given both by you and by that company.
copyright in any work that is (1) original, (2) creative and (3) recorded in
a fixed medium. Thus you have copyright in your postings, provided they are
original and creative, I have copyright in mine, etc.
For example, according to a usenet post from March of 1996 by Joe Straczynski, the Babylon 5 guy, everything posted on Compuserve at that time was copyrighted by CIS (Compuserve) and the author of the post, and those posts "cannot be posted elsewhere without the permission of the sender, and the system." (The quoted post is archived, with Straczynski's express permission, at http://www.jmsnews.com/.)
But Nick's statement that changing media (such as going from on-line to cd-rom) makes a difference is also correct. As an example, once a piece of music is published, anyone can perform that music (provided that they or venue where they perform it has paid the appropriate fees to ASCAP and/or BMI), just like anyone can read an email on a list like this or read a posting on a message board. But no one is allowed to record the music (transfer it to another media, going from print to sound recording) until the original owner of the copyright either records it or specifically authorizes such a recording in writing (called the Right of First Recording, if memory serves). Once it has been recorded once, then anyone who pays the appropriate ASCAP or BMI fees can make a recording (and they do still have to pay the appropriate fees to the copyright holder, they just don't have to get permission in advance at that point).
Also, with music, typically a composer will either share copyright with the publishing company, or create a company to own the copyright, much like in the Compuserve example above.
To bring this just a little bit back on-topic, does anyone know of any sci-fi books or short stories in which copyright plays an important role in the plot? I think I remember a couple where trademark was involved, but I can't think of any off-hand dealing with copyright.
Reggie Bautista
_________________________________________________________________
The new MSN 8 is here: Try it free* for 2 months http://join.msn.com/?page=dept/dialup
_______________________________________________
http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
