[IP] more on Posting newsclippings online as PDFs

[David Farber <dave@farber.net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Peter Wayner <pcw@flyzone.com>
Date: November 29, 2006 3:00:31 PM EST
To: David Farber <dave@farber.net>, franklin@pobox.com
Cc: ip@v2.listbox.com
Subject: Re: [IP] Posting newsclippings online as PDFs


I don't think the correct way to think about this is to concentrate  
on the law, but since you asked I'll answer that first.

Statute: It's called copyright. Are you making copies for people who  
visit your website? It sure sounds like it for me.

You can read the law here:

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode17/usc_sup_01_17.html

Case history? It's all over the place, but the courts haven't been  
shy about throwing the proverbial book (one they purchased not copied  
illicit). Consider Lowry's Reports v. Legg Mason. Lowry's is a small,  
financial newsletter publisher who found that Legg Mason was making  
extra copies for internal use. A jury awarded $19.7m for these copies.

http://www.mdd.uscourts.gov/Opinions152/Opinions/01-3898.memorandum.pdf

That's just one case.

But I think the proper way to look at this is morally and  
philosophically. If the newspapers can't get revenue from producing  
articles, they're going to stop doing it. I gave a talk at Google  
about this:


http://www.wayner.org/talks/gtalk.html

Ask yourself how you would feel if people just made arbitrary copies  
of your work product, whatever it is.

-Peter





On Nov 29, 2006, at 2:23 PM, David Farber wrote:

> Begin forwarded message:
>
> From: Franklin Seal <franklin@pobox.com>
> Date: November 29, 2006 2:19:17 PM EST
> To: David Farber <dave@farber.net>
> Subject: Posting newsclippings online as PDFs
>
> Dave — for IP if you like:
>
> I regularly save online news articles as PDF files, then post them  
> on a website as newsclippings. This avoids the problem of articles  
> disappearing on the original newspaper’s site down the line. But  
> someone asked me the other day if this was legal and I didn’t have  
> an answer. So far, I’ve come up blank looking for one online.
>
> Anyone able to point me to statute or case history that might shed  
> some light here?



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