Copyright Law Part 1 - Introduction
by Terry Carroll
This FAQ originally began as a general-purpose FAQ for the Usenet
misc.legal newsgroup. After working on that broad FAQ for several
months, it became apparent that such a FAQ was too monumental a
task to be undertaken by a single FAQ maintainer. The person who
succeeded me in the effort agreed.
I've noticed that copyright questions seem to come up constantly
on usenet, not only in misc.legal, but in many newsgroups, from
comp.fonts to rec.classical.music. It also happens to be my
favorite area of law, so when I abandoned the misc.legal FAQ, I
decided to retain the portions dealing with copyright law, and to
fashion that into a Copyright Law FAQ. This document is the
result.
This FAQ betrays its misc.legal origin. On misc.legal, it's very
common, and indeed preferred, for assertions of law to be
accompanied by citations to the relevant legal authorities. This
serves as a check against erroneous or misleading interpretations
of the authorities. It also allows the reader to verify the
authorities, and provides an enthusiastic reader with starting
points for further research into the subject. In trimming the
former misc.legal FAQ to discuss only copyright law, I've decided
to retain these citations. This is not only for the reasons
stated above, but also because this FAQ, like any other static
document, is in danger of being made out of date by future
developments in the law. By providing sources for the answers to
the questions, an inquisitive reader will be able to investigate
the source and determine, for example, if a particular appellate
case has been overruled or has been declined to be followed by
other appellate courts. I have included an appendix at the end of
the FAQ to assist newcomers in understanding the legal notation
used in citing references.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I'd like to acknowledge the following people who reviewed early
drafts of this FAQ and made valuable suggestions for
modifications, or otherwise contributed to the FAQ:
Thomas Deardorff <[email protected]>
Stuart P. Derby <[email protected]>
Mary Jensen <cnicopy@charlie.usd.edu>
David Lassner <[email protected]>
George Mitchell <[email protected]>
Ronald Naylor <[email protected]>
Carol Odlum <[email protected]>
Laura A. Pitta <[email protected]>
Hank Roth <[email protected]>
Craig A. Summerhill <[email protected]>
Peter Stott <[email protected]>
David W. Tamkin <[email protected]>
Glenn S. Tenney <[email protected]>
Marina ___ [full name unknown] <[email protected]>
CHANGE LOG
V1.0 (Jul. 12, 1993) - Initial release.
V1.0.1 (Jul. 20, 1993) - Modified Q32 to add information on ftp
from charon.amdahl.com
V1.1.0 (Aug. 05, 1993) - Reorganized into six parts; minor
editorial changes.
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