Bill wrote:
>I send this as testament to what a bunch of creeps Lycos is.
>Bill
I'm going to create a "Photographers Boycott Lycos" logo and a brief explanation of
why and put it
on my web page. I'll let the list know when it's done in case anyone else is
interested in doing the
same.
Mark
>----- Original Message -----
>From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>To: "william robb" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Sent: Wednesday, January 17, 2001 12:55 PM
>Subject: Re: Lycos Photocenter (KMM6850779C0KM)
>
>
>> Hello,
>>
>> Thank you for writing to Lycos.
>>
>> Lycos maintains a catalog of Internet sites, analogous to the
>white
>> pages of a phone book. We provide this catalog to the public
>as a free
>> information service and research tool. Due to the size and
>nature of
>> our catalog, it's not possible for us to remove individual
>results. As
>> with any Web search, Lycos claims no right to these files and
>directs
>> our users to contact the administrator of the Web site in
>question for
>> more information on the use of copyrighted photographs.
>>
>> The Lycos Multimedia Search engine employs spiders that scour
>the
>> internet for rich media content, much like a regular search
>engine
>> would. My understanding is that because we are not publishing
>your
>> photos, rather we link off to your site, this is not an
>illegal
>> practice. You can find more information at:
>>
>> http://www.lycos.com/lycosinc/legal.html
>>
>> To prohibit spiders from any server from accessing your site,
>you must
>> make use of the robots.txt standard. What is robots.txt? This
>small text
>> file is like a traffic cop that tells our software which parts
>of your
>> site can be examined and indexed. Ask your Web hosting company
>if your
>> site already employs this file. If not, it is a fairly simple
>matter to
>> create your own robots.txt file.
>>
>> You will find further information about robots.txt files at
>the
>> following sites.
>>
>> http://www.lycos.com/help/robots.html
>>
>> http://www.kollar.com/robots.html
>>
>> You may also wish to read the following article regarding an
>image
>> copyright case:
>>
>>
>> Ditto.com wins image copyright case
>> Ruling may have sweeping implications for search engines
>> By Elliot Zaret <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> MSNBC
>>
>> SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 17 - In a case that may have sweeping
>implications
>> for search engines of all kinds, a federal judge in California
>has ruled
>> that a "visual search engine" did not violate copyright laws
>by
>> collecting thumbnail images of photographs from the Web and
>displaying
>> them on its site. The necessity of searching the Internet
>outweighed any
>> other factor in determining whether a copyright was violated,
>the judge
>> said.
>>
>> IN JANUARY, a California photographer sued Ditto.com
>> <http://www.ditto.com>, then known as the Arriba Vista Image
>Searcher,
>> for violating her copyright by collecting and displaying 35 of
>her
>> copyrighted images on its site as search results. The Ditto
>search
>> engine works by "spidering" the Web - having a computer
>program collect
>> some two million images from any site on the Internet it can
>find them -
>> then shrinking each image down to a thumbnail image that is
>displayed in
>> the search result. The photographer argued that an image is an
>image and
>> displaying her copyrighted photographs without her
>permission - and
>> making money in the process - was effectively stealing. The
>U.S.
>> District Court judge in Santa Ana, Calif. ruled that Ditto
>wasn't
>> stealing the images. But the 15-page decision, handed down
>late
>> Thursday, was somewhat more complicated - with the judge
>effectively
>> giving a split decision on many of the relevant issues.
>However the
>> judge said that the crucial role search engines serve for
>users of the
>> Internet outweighs the other factors and makes Ditto's
>thumbnails "fair
>> use" of the images. "(The photographer's) images were swept up
>along
>> with two million others available on the Internet, as part of
>(Ditto's)
>> efforts to provide its users with a better way to find images
>on the
>> Internet," wrote the judge. "(Ditto's) purposes were and are
>inherently
>> transformative, even if its realization of those purposes was
>at times
>> imperfect. Where, as here, a new use and new technology are
>evolving,
>> the broad transformative purpose of the use weighs more
>heavily than the
>> inevitable flaws in its early stages of development." The
>judge also
>> said that thumbnails themselves - though an exact replica of
>the
>> original photos - had to be considered different from the
>originals
>> because they served an entirely different purpose. "The
>character of the
>> thumbnail index is not esthetic, but functional; it's purpose
>is not to
>> be artistic, but to be comprehensive," the judge wrote.
>Ditto.com's
>> attorney Judy Jennison, who heads the Silicon Valley
>Intellectual
>> Property Litigation Practice of Perkins Coie, said the
>decision
>> validates the importance of navigation tools like search
>engines on the
>> Internet. "Generally speaking, the court has realized that the
>Internet
>> is important to all of us, and helping people navigate the
>Internet is
>> an important thing," said Jennison. "It's clearly the right
>decision for
>> the Internet."
>>
>> SWEEPING RAMIFICATIONS?
>>
>> Rich Gray, an intellectual property attorney and founding
>partner of
>> Outside General Counsel Silicon Valley, said the case may have
>sweeping
>> ramifications for the industry. "It's very pro-fair use in the
>Internet
>> context, which has implications in all kinds of things ranging
>from
>> search engines to deep linking to framing," Gray said. For
>instance, the
>> case seems to support the right of a music search engine to
>play clips
>> of songs sold on MP3 sites, Gray said. And the case may come
>into play
>> in a case filed this week by online auction giant eBay, which
>claimed
>> that Bidder's Edge effectively stole eBay information by
>searching eBay
>> listings with its auction search engine. However Gray warned
>that it's
>> only one ruling in the nascent field of law and cyberspace -
>and until
>> more cases are decided, every case will be looked at
>differently. "It
>> wouldn't shock me if a similar case was brought in a different
>district
>> court and a different result happened," Gray said. "This could
>have gone
>> either way."
>>
>>
>> Farah
>>
>> Lycos Customer Service
>> ----------------------
>> Lycos.com - Part of the Lycos Network
>> http://www.lycos.com
>>
>>
>>
>________________________________________________________________
>________
>>
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>>
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>>
>>
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>ycos.com
>>
>________________________________________________________________
>________
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Original message follows:
>> -------------------------
>>
>>
>> Message from WilliamRobb:
>> The following URL is in violation of copyright
>>
>>
>http://www.multimedia.lycos.com/default.asp?component=MorePictur
>es&query
>> =william+robb&ff=0
>> and
>>
>>
>http://www.multimedia.lycos.com/default.asp?query=william+robb&f
>irst=10&
>> component=MorePictures&ff=0
>>
>> Remove my images from your site immediately.
>> William Robb
>> ID :
>> ( PARTNER ) :
>> ( PTNR ) :
>> Platform : Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 5.5; Windows 98)
>> RE :
>>
>http://www.multimedia.lycos.com/default.asp?component=MorePictur
>es&query
>> =william+robb&ff=0
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