On 20/03/07, Volker Kuhlmann <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
You can not just copy text from mailing lists into say a wiki and then expect it to be under the wiki's creative commons license. The text wasn't yours to start with. The fact that it was posted on a public list doesn't change that. The fact that the copyright holder is unlikely to sue doesn't make stealing it legal.
Thanks Volker. The CLUG wiki has an explicit comment about this :- <quote> You must ensure that the work you contribute to this site is valid under this license. Basically, this means that :- * either You own original copyright in the work * or The work you are contributing is in "the public domain" * or The work you are contributing is licensed under compatible terms (this excludes the GNU FDL, unfortunately) * or The work you are contributing is being "fairly used" You must also be happy to release your contribution under the selected license, of course. </quote> It's possible that there should be a clearer description of "public domain", especially where the email list is concerned. If I see a great post on the list that I think would be great for the wiki, I ask the original poster if they would submit it, or allow me to submit it on their behalf. However, I would not necessarily keep the email that they sent with permission in it; I'd treat it the same as a verbal comment.
> > What license do you suggest your list postings are covered under? None: copyright by poster, you have no other rights than to read it, to make quotations of reasonable size, and to negotiate your own terms with each poster.
IIRC the US *required* an author to claim copyright explicitly on their works, otherwise there was no protection; but English and other laws provided automatic copyright that has to be explicitly *disclaimed*. That probably still applies here (and IIRC the US has moved to that position now). Therefore, in the lack of any explicit disclaimer, all works on this list is copyrighted by the original author. There are ways out of that, to do with the originality and length of the contribution, but that's the basic backstop. So, you can't "use" material from the list without permission. You can encourage the authors to put their material onto a site like the wiki that has an explicit license, or collect individual permissions. You can *quote* anything posted, and as Nick says, take the ideas but not the words.
Volker (waiting for being told off for talking back to a lawyer ;)
lol -jim
