On Tuesday 17 April 2007 22:44, Axle Gear wrote:
> And this is exactly why people ignore it.
>
> At no point did I say, flat out, 'redistribution is legal'.
> Thanks for reinforcing my point. =3
>
>
> It's legal to redistribute (any material which is posted by the author or
> copyright holder to a public median.) Meaning that unless the site
> requires an agreement (HAVING a ToS does not hold water in court, forcing
> them to click 'I Agree' while reading the ToS does.), requires an account
> or password*, or is a pay-service.
Wrong, the only legal redistribution is that which is allowed by the
copyright holder.
> * = By doing this, the site is considered private. Any copyright
> violations must be handled personally, and can only be handled in civil
> court, and even then only if damages are concerned.
Damages caused are only relevant to the asessment of compensatory damages,
they are irrelevant when it comes to injunctive relief and punitive damages.
> It's not illegal to redistribute works which are posted publicly and do not
> have a copyright, trademark, or other signifying mark on them, period. Nor
> can civil cases be brought up for such.
The copyright mark is not needed in any way, shape or form in any Berne
Convention nation.
The US ratified Berne _OVER TWO DECADES AGO_, and it was one of the
last "western" nations to do so.
> It's not illegal to redistribute copyrighted works which are posted
> publicly, period, provided no profit is taken, the work is not claimed as
> the distributor's own, and the work is not stored on a private website (see
> above reguarding).
Wrong, the only thing that not making money protects you from is having to
pay compensatory damages.
> It's not illegal, but can be subject to civil fines (See: Lawsuit) to
> redistribute copyrighted material for profit* [ONLY if the material is
> non-commercial], claiming anothers' work as one's own*, redistributing on a
> private site^, redistributing works with the copyright clearly stated to
> places stated that they may not be reposted in the ToS or object itself, or
> in the case of art redistributing copies of commercial materials such as
> scans and CD*s. * = See next section, as some situations can be illegal
> as well. ^ = Although this is case-by-case and civil, it can be subject to
> fines. A private website is considered equivalent to showing ones' friends
> a t-shirt in public, which is obviously not illegal. It MUST be proven
> that the work was recreated, not simply references or duplicated. IE,
> taking a webcam pic and only posting it to a private site only your friends
> have access to of a print is not a violation!
Due to how they operate, posting something on a web site inherently involves
copying, and thus is distribution.
> It is illegal, and subject to federal and civil fines (See: Fucked) to
> claim a trademarked work or to profit from trademarked work {There's a
> difference!}, redistribute trademarked work (even if posted publicly by
> author), or retain ownership of a trademarked work without consent from
> it's creator. (Meaning if you own an original Bugs Bunny cell, WB can take
> it from you, and fine you for not telling me. No joke.)
Wrong, trademark only prohibits you from doing three things:
Claiming another's trademark as your own.
Trading under someone else's trademark.
Diluting the value of a trademark, (i.e. doing something which reduces its
value, not including things like fair comment and parody).
> Copyright, Trademark, and the intricacies involved are all very, very
> different from popular belief. I can go by my fursona's name and profit
> off it, legally, because the group that originally owned the copyright
> didn't trademark it, and the copyright was not explicitly transferred when
> the company was bought out. In 2005, I filed for the copyright. And I
> hold the legal documentation from the US patents office as proof.
> Copyrights expire if they were established for an entity rather than an
> individual, and the entity disbands and does not transfer ownership in
> paper.
If there is no specific transferring of the copyright, the copyright will
transfer with the other residual assets.
(BTW: The USPTO does not handle copyright, the Copyright Office is part of
the Library of Congress.)
--
Phoenix
Received on Tue Apr 17 2007 - 22:22:03 CDT