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From: frank@croton.nyo.dec.com (Frank Wortner)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.admin,comp.unix.ultrix
Subject: Re: Legality of Posting Received E-Mail to Netnews?
Keywords: Mail Legal
Message-ID: <2247@riscy.enet.dec.com>
Date: 20 Jun 91 15:01:32 GMT
References: <1991Jun19.135529.25984@mlb.semi.harris.com> <610@fciva.FRANKCAP.COM>
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Reply-To: frank@croton.nyo.dec.com
Followup-To: misc.legal
Organization: NY ULTRIX Resource Center, Digital Equipment Corporation
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In article <610@fciva.FRANKCAP.COM>, dag@fciva.FRANKCAP.COM (Daniel A. Graifer) writes:

|>I'm not a lawyer, but I believe I heard somewhere that mail, once sent, is
|>considered to be property of the recipient unless the originator explicitly
|>makes a prior claim of copyright.

I'd check your sources if I were you.  If memory serves, there have been a
number of recent cases which seemed to establish exactly the opposite:
that letters are the property of the *sender*  (who is, afterall, the author of
the letter, just as a writer is the author of a book).

Be very careful when you make statements about copyright, patent, or other
intellectual property law.  It's too easy to get into BIG TROUBLE.  If you have
any doubts or questions about copyright or other legal issues, consult a lawyer.
You could save yourself tremendous amounts of legal grief.

If anyone cares to continue this topic, I've directed followups to misc.legal.
They certainly don't belong in comp.unix.ultrix.

					Frank

					"Next case!"  :-)