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From: phil@portal.UUcp (Phil Sih)
Newsgroups: net.micro
Subject: Re: Copyright by CompuServe??
Message-ID: <162@portal.UUcp>
Date: Wed, 14-May-86 17:12:27 EDT
Article-I.D.: portal.162
Posted: Wed May 14 17:12:27 1986
Date-Received: Fri, 16-May-86 03:50:52 EDT
References: <111@druri.UUCP> <661@nicmad.UUCP> <182@rocky2.UUCP> <672@nicmad.UUCP> <138@umix.UUCP>
Organization: Portal Communications, Cupertino, CA
Lines: 51
Keywords: Copyright by CompuServe
Summary: what it is maybe

In article <138@umix.UUCP>, emv@umix.UUCP (Edward Vielmetti) writes:
> Morris Jones (mojo@kepler.UUCP) reports that CompuServe has explicitly
> reserved copyright to all information that you get from them, and that
> you may not copy or retransmit said information.
> 
> I am not doubting his authority (after all he's a sysop there), but
> I do doubt the legality of this approach.  What it seems to mean to me
> is that any software that I have written that I upload to CompuServe
> I lose my rights to; that whatever I say on a CompuServe forum I assign
> CompuServe the exclusive rights to, ad nauseum.
> 
> As a sysop, I for one will abide by this rule for what it's worth: nil.
> 
> (c) 1986 Edward M. Vielmetti, All rights reserved.
> (Actually, I'm doing this at work, so it's probably (c) The Regents
> of the University of Michigan, though they don't know that.)
> 
> emv%Umich-MTS.Mailnet@MIT-Multics.ARPA

Comments welcome on this:

I would guess one of the reasons organizations like Compuserve, BIX, and
others say they own what you write, upload, etc., is because they regard
themselves in the business of reselling your information and have perhaps
taken their cues from the publishing world.

Many people regard the special interest groups on Cserve as their greatest
source of equity (and customers) and it would only seem 'human nature' for
them to want to protect it and keep it to themselves.

As I see it, this can't work in reality.  Suppose one of their users says
something rude regarding someone else and that person decides to sue. Odds
are that Cserve would be the first to disown responsibility for that 
ostensibly 'owned' piece of writing. The same could be said for programs,
or whatever now on their system.  It is probably just a matter of time
before they run into this problem.  Then we will see what happens to their
claims to ownership of users' transmissions.

What might seem more sensible would be a model of ownership more like that
of a bulletin board, where the sysop doesn't have any particularly acknowledged
right to the material uploaded to or entered into his board, nor does he
bear any specific liability. (Although the Tcimpidis case and others would
contradict this.) But I mean by stated agreement.

Opinions anyone?

       Phil Sih at Portal Communications Company, Cupertino, CA
	
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