From: forda@gtephx.UUCP (Andrew Ford @ AGCS, Phoenix, Arizona)
Subject: Re: The Great Floating USENET Copyright War (was: NetNews/CD - USENET News Available)
Organization: gte
Date: Sat, 25 Jul 1992 03:08:44 GMT

In article <rcsjp.711784672@godzilla>, rcsjp@cgl.rmit.oz.au (Jason Pouflis) writes:
> Will someone explain exactly how copyright is applied to the Internet?
> 
> Are there currently laws for this form of electronic media?
> 
> How do the ideas of artistic works apply here?
> 
> I had thought the idea was
> copyright protects artistic works,
> patents protects scientific works,
> trademarks protects brandnames.

The following pretty much covers the intent of usenet (it is extracted
from the monthly usenet primer posting on news.announce.newuser (???).

It says, very simply, that you can expect that what you put on usenet
will be in the public domain.

Placing a copyright notice on the aritcle means you don't want it
in the public domain.  It also means that I cannot take you article,
make into a song, and sell it for $10 million -- well at least you
will be able to sue me for the bucks.

The Great Usenet Copyright War seems to be centered around whether or
not archiving and selling netnews on CD-ROM is part of usenet 
(obviously anytime you post you grant permission for every computer
in the world to replicate and distribute your "work" throughout
the usenet.  Some will say that you command the computers to make
those copies.

Some people (?) seem to think that they define usenet and that
transfer to CD-ROM is not part of usenet: even though transfer
to disks and sale of the contents of those disks (disk to phone
to disk) is.  Seems to me that both types of transaction start 
with a set of electroninc information on a mass storage device
in the hands of one person and end up on a mass storage device
in the hands of another person, quite often with money going
the opposite direction of the data.

Expect that anything you post will be distributed all over the
world: including CD-ROMs.  

Expect that when you order your computer to "send" a post, it
will order every other computer on usenet to do the same: some 
of those will transfer the data to a CD-ROM as a result of your
"send" command.  If you think you can sue the CD-ROM sellers
because you added a copyright notice, GOOD LUCK!

Expect that anything you do not add a copyright notice to
is in the public domain: several readers have already complained
that things they wrote in this public forum have ended up in
magazines -- I don't think magazines which have a habit of stealing
articles stay in business long, so I assume that you really do put
posts into the public domain unless you add a copyright.

#$%Archive-name: usenet-primer/part1
#$%Original-author: chuq@apple.COM (Chuq Von Rospach)
#$%Last-change: 5 May 1992 by spaf@cs.purdue.edu (Gene Spafford)
#$%
#$%
#$%              A Primer on How to Work With the USENET Community
#$%                             Chuq Von Rospach 
#$%
#$%
#$%
#$%  *** You now have access to Usenet, a network of thousands of
#$%  computers.  Other documents or your system administrator will provide
#$%  detailed technical documentation.  This message describes the Usenet
#$%  culture and customs that have developed over time.  All new users should
#$%  read this message to find out how Usenet works. ***
#$%  *** (Old users could read it, too, to refresh their memories.)  ***
#$%
#$%  USENET is a large collection of computers that share data with each
#$%  other.  It is the people on these computers that make USENET worth
#$%  the effort to read and maintain, and for USENET to function properly
#$%  those people must be able to interact in productive ways.  This
#$%  document is intended as a guide to using the net in ways that will
#$%  be pleasant and productive for everyone.
#$%
#$%[...]
#$%		    Be Careful What You Say About Others
#$%
#$%  Please remember -- you read netnews; so do as many as 2,500,000 other
#$%  people.  This group quite possibly includes your boss, your friend's
#$%  boss, your girl friend's brother's best friend and one of your
#$%  father's beer buddies.  Information posted on the net can come back
#$%  to haunt you or the person you are talking about.
#$%
#$%  Think twice before you post personal information about yourself or
#$%  others.  This applies especially strongly to groups like soc.singles
#$%  and alt.sex but even postings in groups like talk.politics.misc have
#$%  included information about the personal life of third parties that
#$%  could get them into serious trouble if it got into the wrong hands.
#$%
#$%[...]
#$%		  Be Careful About Copyrights and Licenses
#$%
#$%  Once something is posted onto the network, it is *probably* in the
#$%  public domain unless you own the appropriate rights (most notably,
#$%  if you wrote the thing yourself) and you post it with a valid
#$%  copyright notice; a court would have to decide the specifics and
#$%  there are arguments for both sides of the issue. Now that the US has
#$%  ratified the Berne convention, the issue is even murkier.  For all
#$%  practical purposes, though, assume that you effectively give up the
#$%  copyright if you don't put in a notice.  Of course, the
#$%  *information* becomes public, so you mustn't post trade secrets that
#$%  way.  When posting material to the network, keep in mind that
#$%  material that is UNIX-related may be restricted by the license you
#$%  or your company signed with AT&T and be careful not to violate it.
#$%  You should also be aware that posting movie reviews, song lyrics, or
#$%  anything else published under a copyright could cause you, your
#$%  company, or members of the net community to be held liable for
#$%  damages, so we highly recommend caution in using this material.
#$%
#$%			Cite Appropriate References
#$%
#$%  If you are using facts to support a cause, state where they came from.
#$%  Don't take someone else's ideas and use them as your own.  You don't want
#$%  someone pretending that your ideas are theirs; show them the same respect.
#$%
#$%[...]
#$%		       Summary of Things to Remember
#$%
#$%
#$%       Never forget that the person on the other side is human
#$%       Don't blame system admins for their users' behavior
#$%       Be careful what you say about others
#$%       Be brief
#$%       Your postings reflect upon you; be proud of them
#$%       Use descriptive titles
#$%       Think about your audience
#$%       Be careful with humor and sarcasm
#$%       Only post a message once
#$%       Please rotate material with questionable content
#$%       Summarize what you are following up
#$%       Use mail, don't post a follow-up
#$%       Read all follow-ups and don't repeat what has already been said
#$%       Double-check follow-up newsgroups and distributions.
#$%       Be careful about copyrights and licenses
#$%       Cite appropriate references
#$%       When summarizing, summarize
#$%       Mark or rotate answers or spoilers
#$%       Spelling flames considered harmful
#$%       Don't overdo signatures
#$%       Limit line length and avoid control characters
#$%
#$%(*)UNIX is a registered trademark of AT&T.
#$%
#$%-----------
#$%      This document is in the public domain and may be reproduced or
#$%      excerpted by anyone wishing to do so.
#$%-- 
#$%Gene Spafford
#$%Software Engineering Research Center & Dept. of Computer Sciences
#$%Purdue University, W. Lafayette IN 47907-1398
#$%Internet:  spaf@cs.purdue.edu	phone:  (317) 494-7825

-- 
"25 States allow anyone to buy a gun, strap it on, and walk down the street with
no permit of any kind: some say it's crazy.  However, 4 out of 5 US murders are 
committed in the other half of the country: so who is crazy?"   -  Andrew Ford
gtephx!forda@enuucp.eas.asu.edu  OR  !uunet!samsung!romed!enuucp!gtephx!forda
Newsgroups: misc.legal.computing