Thu Aug 22 11:27:53 1996

From owner-tc-list  Thu Aug 22 11:27:53 1996
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Subject: Re: tc-list-digest V1 #117
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Date: Thu, 22 Aug 1996 11:22:44 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Stephen C Carlson" 
In-Reply-To:  from "Timothy John Finney" at Aug 22, 96 05:47:38 pm
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Timothy John Finney wrote:
>There are all kinds of barriers standing before the Project, especially
>with regard to obtaining images. A recurring issue is that of Intellectual
>Property Rights. Is a conversion to machine readable form an infringement
>of copyright? Which editions could we convert without fear of litigation?
>We want to do the right thing, and we do not intend to give up. 

You realize that the international aspect tremendously complicates the
copyright aspects.  Although the U.S. Constitution requires limited
terms for copyrights, I'm not sure that that is true in other countries.
(Isn't the 1611 AV still under copyright in the Commonwealth?)  As a
result, one would have to investigate the copyrights of the editions
in every country in which they were published, and whether web-publication
in the U.S. would infringe an Australian copyright, for example.

Generally, conversion to machine readable form of copyrighted material
without permission and not excused by fair use is an infringement (in the
U.S.).  However, what portions of the edition constitute copyrightable
material and what is fair use are not easy questions to answer.

Stephen Carlson
-- 
Stephen C. Carlson, George Mason University School of Law, Patent Track, 4LE
scarlso1@osf1.gmu.edu              : Poetry speaks of aspirations, and songs
http://osf1.gmu.edu/~scarlso1/     : chant the words.  -- Shujing 2.35

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