[Ebbtide]

At another VBoard I got reamed by other users for posting the whole text of a news story, including a link and credit to the writer from another on-line source. I looked around and have seen evidence that it is illegal to do this: http://www.gigalaw.com/archives/0302/gigalaw-discuss-0302-00009.html

I notice we do this quite a bit here (http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=35151) and was wondering how we justify breaking the law, if in deed that is what it is.

Thanks,

Ehenz

[Henry Bowman]

May or may not be an infringement.

Short quotes are fair use. Permission for quoting entire text (with or without link) with attribution is often expressly given. Even if not given, may authors don't care. It really only become a big deal if you are misquoting, misattributing, or providing a large scale service that detours a lot of traffic.

However, don't ignore a legitimate request by the copyright owner to take down material that has been expressly objected to.


I am a lawyer in real life, but I don't play one on the internet. :evil:

[Mike Irwin]

Technically it probably is a violation given the laws as they currently stand.

Hazy, though, as the law is still trying to catch up with the internet.

[F4GIB]

1. The "fair use" doctrine protects most of the stuff posted here.

2. If the original site authorizes unlimited copying by encouraging readers to "send this article to a friend" then sending it to this list, directly or indirectly, is permitted use.

3. Always include the original URL in any posting.