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From: chuq@sun.uucp (Chuq Von Rospach)
Newsgroups: net.news
Subject: Re: Followup on "Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex" copyright problem
Message-ID: <5175@sun.uucp>
Date: Thu, 17-Jul-86 11:52:49 EDT
Article-I.D.: sun.5175
Posted: Thu Jul 17 11:52:49 1986
Date-Received: Fri, 18-Jul-86 05:57:26 EDT
References: <4652@sun.uucp> <1986Jul2.233539.3816@utcs.uucp> <464@hadron.UUCP> <3112@utcsri.UUCP>
Distribution: net
Organization: Fictional Reality, uLtd
Lines: 38

> In article <464@hadron.UUCP> jsdy@hadron.UUCP (Joseph S. D. Yao) writes:
> >Private correspondence is considered to be the property of
> >the addressee, who in this case has chosen to publish it
> >without any copyright attributions.
> 
> This statement is correct, but insufficient:  The *physical correspondence*
> belongs to the addressee, but the *copyright* belongs to the addressee.  So
> Niven should have been asked for his permission for this too!

If you read the text of the original letter, Niven GAVE permission by
telling me to tell Ken what his thoughts were.  Since Ken had been upbraded
publicly, the final resolution should also have been made publicly, which 
I did.

This is an amazingly silly nitpick, by the way.  It never fails to amaze me
how the network can spend amazing amounts of time on mindless arguments...
> Secondly, one frequently sees biographers (etc.) thanking owners of letters

> from dead biographees for allowing the letters to be quoted.  Do the rules
> change when the author is dead? 

No. After a period of time, it all falls into the public domain.  If the
letters are donated to a library or some such, so do the rights.  There was
recently a HUGE volume of letters by John W. Campbell, Jr. published, and a
great deal of time and effort was spent securing rights from Conde Nast (the
publisher he worked for) and his widow to do so.  When someone dies, rights
are transferred to their estate just like every other property.

chuq
-- 
Chuq Von Rospach	chuq%plaid@sun.COM	 CompuServe: 73317,635
		{decwrl,hplabs,ihnp4,seismo}!sun!plaid!chuq

	O how they cling and wrangle, some who claim
	Of Brahamana and recluse the honoured name!
	For, quarrelling, each to his view they claim,
	Such folk see only one side of a thing.
		-- Buddha -- The Elephant and the Blind Men