P3D Re: 3D-CD glitch...

["Greg Wageman" <gjw@xxxxxxxxxx>]

From: Tom Martin <tlmartin@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>


>Before the armchair lawyers go too far out on a limb, I think they had
>better bone up on their copyright law. I do not know who did not want
>their List postings published on Dan Shelley's CD, but their postings
>(along with everyone else's) are indeed copyrighted and are not in the
>public domain unless the writer has specifically stated that they are.


I can do better than point you at Web sites, Tom.  I can quote you from
a printed copy of the law I have here in my hand.  Let's assume, for
sake of argument, that everything we post to P3D is, in fact,
copyrighted (and I don't grant that to be true, but I think it becomes
irrelevent).

According to Title 17 USC,  section 201(c) "Contributions to Collective
Works":

Copyright in each separate contribution to a collective work is distinct
from copyright in the collective work as a whole, and vests initially in
the author of the contribution.  In the absence of an express transfer
of the copyright or of any rights under it, the owner of copyright in
the collective work is presumed to have acquired only the privilege of
REPRODUCING AND DISTRIBUTING THE CONTRIBUTION AS A PART OF THAT
PARTICULAR COLLECTIVE WORK, ANY REVISION OF THAT COLLECTIVE WORK, AND
ANY LATER COLLECTIVE WORK IN THE SAME SERIES.

[emphasis mine]

A "collective work" is defined in section 101 as "a work, such as a
periodical issue, anthology, or encyclopedia, in which a number of
contributions, constituting separate and independent works in
themselves, are assembled into a collective whole."

The archives of the Photo3D list sure seem to qualify as a "collective
work", and the owner of the copyright of the collective work under
section 201(c) has the right to reproduce and distribute copies of the
individual contributions as a part of the whole.  So it seems that, as
long as our postings are kept in the context of their original
publication, as several people have requested, the copyright owner can
reproduce them.  I'm not sure who, exactly, qualifies as the "publisher"
of P3D for copyright purposes, but it seems that all that may be
necessary is for that individual or institution to give Dan written
permission to distribute the archives in their entirety.

I am (still) not a lawyer and this is only an opinion, not legal advice.

     -Greg W. (gjw@xxxxxxxxxx)







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