Copyright & liability

[Nick Arnett]

At 12:42 PM 1/24/97 -0800, Marc Salomon wrote:

>The size of the article was less than 500 words.  The article was redistributed
>properly cited, on a not-for-profit basis, to a self-selected discussion group,
>the sum total of which makes for an on-going work of literature.  I paid $0.50
>for the print copy on my way to work, and redistributing an electronic copy of
>work paid for in the above manner is no different than doing so with
>photocopies of the paper piece.

I hope this isn't supposed to be the legal argument (under U.S. law).
Unless I've forgotten something, none of these facts (citation,
not-for-profit, self-selected discussion group) have any bearing on
copyright law, except to make the judgement more severe, since citation
implies that the copier knew that someone else had copyright in the work.
There's only a hint of an "educational purposes" argument, which could hold
water under "fair use."

However, the issue is whom the courts will hold liable when an infringement
takes place.  Will it be librarians, ISPs and other organizers and
distributors of information?  That would be really awful, since it would
damage the infrastructure if these people have to worry about liability.
The First Amendment's preference for free speech has always been interpreted
to mean that you don't damage the insitutions and delivery systems, even if
it means that some otherwise avoidable harm is done.  For example, look at
the almost-complete ban on prior restraint.  A court can see clearly that
harm will result from publication, but is powerless to stop it unless
"national security" is threatened.

Thank goodness that the CDA decision included the notion that on the
Internet, freedom of speech deserves *more* protection than even in print,
for the very reason to which Marc alluded -- it is the most accessible means
of sharing ideas ever to be created.  Contrast that with the Chronicle and
Examiner.

Nick

---------------------------------------
Verity Inc.
Connecting People with Information

Product Manager, Categorization and Visualization
408-542-2164; home office 408-369-1233; fax 408-541-1600
http://www.verity.com