Dear Philippe & long-suffering List members, > > Violation of copyrights occurs when a copyrighted document is > > circulated/distributed for commercial purposes. > > Only for 'commercial' purposes? Alright, let me give you two examples:1.) I photocopied an article from, say, Wall Street Journal (WSJ), for your reference because you missed it (you were in Paris). 2.) I photocopied the whole journal (WSJ) & started selling it for half the original price to everyone in the neighbourhood. Question: Which example is a breach of copyrights? > > We circulate a couple of magazines here together with notes from the > > CEO every week. I don't think our CEO has breach copyrights law ...... > > I agree that handing over the original magazine to someone else is not > against the copyright law. This was not the subject of our discussion, > but please tell me more about what/who is CEO. Firstly, CEO is Chief Executive Officer. Secondly, a virtual publication is regarded as an original. For example, if you visit the National Geographic Society web-site. You download the magazine. That process is virtual. It's the same as taking a hardcopy into your own hands. Thirdly, if you pass that hardcopy to me. You didn't commit any breach copyrights. Similarly, if you pass the virtual copy to me, you didn't commit a breach either. If a virtual publication is distributed in its original form freely. It's similar to distributing the hardcopy of the magazine for free to everyone on this list. A virtual publication is protected in the same manner as a hardcopy version. However, there is a different. A hardcopy can be duplicated, a virtual one can only be replicated. What does this mean? When you retrieve/download a virtual publication from the Internet, that virtual copy is transmitted over several systems before arriving on your PC. The Internet is not the same as an Intranet. If it's illegal to distribute this virtual copy, it would have been illegal for it to be transmitted over several systems in the first place. Similarly, if it's illegal for you to distribute a magazine for free to your friends & family. It would have been illegal to send them over the postal systems in the first place. The distribution process starts at the source, not from your side. Another thing, virtual publications are downloaded thousand of time a day e.g. State of the World's Forests by FAO. If 100 members of this list download this report from the FAO web-site. We have replicated this publication 100 times. Have we then commited a breach of copyright? For example, if you don't have the time to download this report. You know that I've spent 7 hours downloading it last night. You requested me to send you a copy by e-mail & similarly to 10 of your friends. I send you & your friends an e-mail with this report (in its original form) attached to it for free. Question: Is there a breach of copyright? Remember that FAO's reports are also copyrighted. So a virtual publication is the same as an original hardcopy. It's not the same as a copy. This is an extremely important difference. A virtual replication is not duplication, which is piracy. > > Much of the info at FAO & WRI are copyrighted but you can still > > download & distribute them for free. If it's against the law to attach > > a document, it would have been illegal to download it in the first > > place. > > Have you ever photocopied a book/article and handed it over to a > colleague/friend? > Have you ever distributed a photocopied book to all participants at an > international conference? > So what if we make the difference between private email and an email > list. You get the picture? > And what is WRI? WRI is World Resources Institute. > OK, I am not a copyright law specialist. But, for everybody's sake, > adopt the behaviour rules of the group when you participate in that > group, especially when the behaviour rules are simple. This does not > exclude the possibility to express critics, comments, etc. It's just the > difference between what to do and how to do it. I personally have no problems in handling differences in opinions. But I take allegation of criminal conduct very seriously. Copyrights are classified under criminal laws in some countries. I get very upset when people can't understand/relate the virtual world in this sense but start throwing mud instead. Got to go. It's almost 8.30 pm here! God bless. Nelson Wong MTC
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