Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!nrl-cmf!ukma!cwjcc!gatech!rutgers!att!alberta!ubc-cs!van-bc!sl
From: sl@van-bc.UUCP (pri=-10 Stuart Lynne)
Newsgroups: news.admin
Subject: Re: compilation copyright question
Keywords: poster's rights
Message-ID: <2216@van-bc.UUCP>
Date: 9 Feb 89 21:39:04 GMT
References: <5982@leadsv.UUCP>
Reply-To: sl@van-bc.UUCP (pri=-10 Stuart Lynne)
Organization: Wimsey Associates, Vancouver, BC.
Lines: 41

In article <5982@leadsv.UUCP> webb@leadsv.UUCP (J.J. Webb) writes:
>Suppose I post a poem, program, funny story, etc. and affix a
>copyright statement to it. Now, comes along a [moderator, a
>compilation guru, a collector, historian, etc.] and includes something
>that I've posted in his/her [joke book, poetry collection, history
>book, etc.] and declares a compilation copyright. She/He starts selling
>a printed version for $9.95 and an electronic version for $8-$9/hr
>connect time. If he/she didn't get my permission, aren't my rights
>being violated? Nothing I read, when I first started rn_ing, said
>anything about a moderator (or anybody else) "collecting" and compiling
>information and using it to generate revenue (for any reason).

Yes they would be if that was the scenario.

If you have a copyright then no-one can include it without your permission.
Some people are saying that in some cases you have a copyright without
explicitly saying so, althought whether that would extend to a discussion
type article (like this one) is open to debate.

In the case of r.h.f it should be pointed out that people are sending in
jokes for publication in the moderated group and now in the annual book. It
would be difficult to track down the originator of the joke because in
almost all cases the jokes are *NOT* the property of the submitter. They are
usually at the very least derivitive from something else (humor specialists
have tracked many jokes back hundreds of years).

>If this kind of compilation copyright is legitimate, and moderators
>and information collectors are allowed to steal people's work, art,
>etc. on the pretext that "it takes to time to compile all this and 
>therefore I should be compensated" .. then shouldn't the newuser 
>announcement contain a VERY PROMINENT WARNING to that effect?

They are not allowed to.

Normally if your "work" is included in a compilation you will be entitled to
some fee or royalty. Just be sure it is your work and that you have
identified it so if your are posting it in a context in which the implicit
copyright might not be apparant.

-- 
Stuart.Lynne@wimsey.bc.ca {ubc-cs,uunet}!van-bc!sl     Vancouver,BC,604-937-7532