atw: Re: Copyright - legislation
- From: Michael Edward Granat <megranat@xxxxxxxx>
- To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 13 Nov 2003 16:35:39 +1100
Well Bill (Hall),
The person disassembling the work for that other purpose would have to ask
the copyright owner.
I imagine that, if she or her company had actually taken the trouble to
write to the copyright holders in the first place (and the request was
confirmed in writing as being acceptable to them) those copyright holders
might well have provided her with copies of the original files (perhaps
even in Word format) and the question might have never even come our way on
this list.
But for what appears to be a law software firm to do this entirely the
wrong way round doesn't look like a well considered approach to me.
I'd say that they are asking for trouble with this backyard approach to
using other people's material.
The ready availability of any text does not lessen its originality or its
publisher's and authors' rights.
Michael Granat
Write Ideas
At 16:29 13/11/2003 +1100, you wrote:
>Michael,
>
>I presume that you are aware that there are many companies around the
>world including some of the world's largest publishing houses that do
>exactly what you describe here.
>
>Presumably they are doing this with the knowledge and permission of the
>owners of the copyright in the legislation.=20
>
>Yes, there are penalties for violating copyright and moral rights by
>ripping off other people's work and publishing it as your own.
>
>However, my understanding was that the original request was for help
>with tools to facilitate internal research and use of the documentation.
>My guess is that this would be well within the concept of fair use of
>public domain materials.
>
>Regards,
>
>Bill Hall
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