The others hinge on questions of whether quoting from the document lessens its commercial value, how great a proportion is quoted, and whether the record itself is newsworthy. If Victoria s Secret lawyers, who didn t return calls, can demonstrate that the Smoking Gun used its entire unpublished dress code solely for profit not because it was in any way newsworthy then the panty makers are more likely to be able to make a case for copyright infringement. In a series of chilling decisions for Web journalists, courts have often frowned on the copying of entire unpublished works. In 1996, Netcom had to settle a copyright case with the Scientology crowd after allowing a dissenter to post portions of guru L. Ron Hubbard s writings online. And in another case involving Hubbard s writing, a court ruled that fair use can be restricted to minimal use.
Foreign judges agree.
Yet Sax who has assisted the Church of Scientology with unrelated intellectual-property matters feels confident the Smoking Gun will prevail. This is really not a great test case. Meanwhile, the reporter who took on the mob has no fear of the lingerie empire. I can t imagine that. E-mail this story to a friend.