From: utzoo!watmath!pcmcgeer
Newsgroups: net.followup
Title: Re: Copyright violations
Article-I.D.: watmath.4067
Posted: Tue Dec 14 11:06:54 1982
Received: Tue Dec 14 23:35:45 1982
References: mi-cec.203

	Checked with a law-student friend last night.  It turns out that
distributing Xeroxes of copyright material in any way is a violation of
copyright.  However, he notes that in practice nothing gets done unless it
is a gross violation of copyright: that is, a massive violation that has
provably damaged the copyright holder.
	Dan Klein's bboard  example is not a gross violation.  I further
suspect that the violations of copyright on the net are not gross, and that
the key question - did publication of material here on the net damage the
copyright holder - must be answered in the negative.
	I should point out that most of the excerpts I have seen reprinted on
the net were from newspaper and magazine articles, which are usually not
protected by copyright.
						Rick.