[PLUG] PLUG mailing list and copyright

[Navin Kabra]

On Wed, Feb 11, 2009 at 8:33 PM,  Aditya Godbole <aag.lists at gmail.com> wrote:
> One cannot impose a license on
> something that you put on public property.

Can you cite some reference for this? My understanding was that the
author retains copyright irrespective of where the work is posted.
(Public disclosure affects patents and trademarks, not copyright.)

> One cannot restrict use of
> something that one knows is going to be archived, reproduced, quoted,
> partly quoted in replies which are also going to be public.


1. It is true that one cannot restrict archiving, automatic
reproduction for technical reasons, quoting (fair use). However, the
copyright applies in all other cases not covered by that sentence. For
example, if I wanted to copy the entire post of someone and post it to
my website, I would need permission of the original author.

2. As far as I can tell, the PLUG website, or the PLUG mailing list
does not have any copyright notice which implies that everything
posted to the site is in public domain. In fact, the PLUG website says
everything is copyright PLUG.

3. In the absence of any copyright notice, normal laws apply. Which
means, author owns all copyright, except for fair use.

4. If an author explicitly relaxes the copyright (by including a link
to the copyright in the mail) it does simplify the job of someone who
does want to copy it. i.e. I can now post that material elsewhere
without having to contact the author. So it does serve a purpose.

navin.