On 10 May 99, at 19:43, Jeff Wasilko wrote:
> As a normal part of maintaining the mailing lists, we also keep
> archives of the mailing lists, and we make them available on the
> web. The archives are not edited, nor are they inspected by a
> human as they are produced.
>
> I received the mail below today, and upon inspecting the mailing
> lists archives, I've found 6 copies of the poem in various list
> archives.
>
> Do mailing list archives have any protection against being held
> liable for copyright infringement?
Well, IANAL [but I moderate a law newsgroup on TV :o)] and I think you
may have problems.
There has never been a court case to test whether 'archives' are legal or
not. BUT: that question usually arises in the context of trying to
define the boundaries of the 'implied license' granted by posting/mlm'ing
the orginal work.. that is with the presumption that the poster HAD the
copying-rights to have posted the work in the first place. I'm assuming
that the poem was not posted by Mr. Fendelman, because then it isn't near
as cut-and-dried as the lawyer would have it seem and, indeed, you might
be headed to be the dread 'test case' we've all been waiting for [testing
just what the limits of the implied license are]
It seems that this is apparently different --- your forum [and your
archive] have apparently been used to infingingly-distribute copyrighted
material. Alas, I don't think that your role fits under OCILLA [online
copyright infringement liability limitation act], so I don't see an
obvious way for you to duck liability. You probably need to consult with
a lawyer [or at least post an inquiry to misc.legal.int-property..:o)]
/Bernie\
--
Bernie Cosell Fantasy Farm Fibers
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Pearisburg, VA
--> Too many people, too few sheep <--
