On 24/10/2011 12:06, Chris Taggart wrote:
I think that's an interesting question, and a non-trivial one.
Have spoken with some in govt about this, and I don't think it's
entirely clear that a court would enforce the copyright on annual
reports (though you're the lawyer, I am not).
I'm not a lawyer either, but I suspect that if the courts were asked to
enforce it then they would.
(Whether a court would award meaningful damages for such a breach is
another matter, of course).
Obviously photos within
them, other aspects, and even the reports have copyright, but does the
role as public documents override this in any way (i.e. if you can't
email a company report to your financial advisor for analysis does it
'work'). There's also the question of whether they are also like press
releases, designed by their nature to be distributed.
Even a press release is subject to copyright. And the fact that you give
permission to A, B and C to copy it does not mean that you have
necessarily given permission to D to copy it.
The Meltwater case is, I think, relevant here. Essentially, the court
concluded there that it's possible to grant or deny permission to make
copies of a web page on an arbitrary basis. It would be entirely
possible, therefore, for a court to conclude that permission to make
copies of an annual report extends only to those making such copies via
email and not by placing them on a different website. If the reports had
a clause saying "Copyright XYZ Corp, no copies to be placed on websites
without our permission" then that would be enforceable.
As I said, I am not a lawyer, but it would seem to me that if a company
were to enforce the copyright on the annual report, it would call into
question the whole purpose of annual reports.
The purpose of an annual report is to be read by people who need to read
it. If that purpose can be fulfilled without placing copies on a website
then refusing permission to place copies on a website does not frustrate
that purpose.
Mark
--
Sent from my Babbage Difference Engine
http://mark.goodge.co.uk
http://www.ratemysupermarket.com
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