Copyright and Usenet posts

On Mar 3, 7:34 am, "b.good" <benzos_g...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Are usenes posts considered public domain?

No.   Posting your message where other people can see it isn't the same as giving up all control over that message, which is what happens when something becomes "public domain."   If something is public domain I can re-sell it, modify it at will, make throw pillows or bobbleheads with those sayings emblazoned on them, etc. and make money on them any other way I can.    Saying that anything posted on Usenet is "public information", as I do in my sigblock disclaimer, just means it is not private and confidential since strangers can read it.   That's not the same thing as making the posts "public domain."

I'm coming late to this thread, but no one so far seems to have mentioned the "fair use" issue.  The FAQs in some newsgroups address this subject.  Even if they don't, IMO there is (or should be; I'm not aware of any caselaw directly deciding the issue in the context of Usenet) a limited fair use right for others to quote and republish Usenet posts in the same medium on which they were posted (i.e. the Internet, whether thru newsservers or webservers) for purposes of participating in an ongoing discussion, which is the implied reason the OP posted his comment to Usenet in the first place; and for others to download, save or archive such posts and even print them on paper if it is for the downloader's personal use, not for resale.  If you don't intend others to download your post to their own computers, read those copies they made of your post, and then paste all or part of it into their replies, don't post to Usenet, because those are the reasonable expectations anyone should have of what others will do with your work.

Others here have indicated they are concerned that Usenet archivists such as Google are making money off of their posts, but IMO that is no different legally than just running a Usenet newsserver, so long as the archivist in doing so is continuing the original purpose and medium for which Usenet posts were originally made public by their authors, i.e., making them available online for others to freely read and comment on electronically.

IMO it is no more improper for Google to make money off of advwertising which they draw, in part, from the presence of their sought-after Usenet archives than for any other ISP or newsserver to make money off of the services they provide in bringing new Usenet posts to your computer doorstep in the first place, or retaining older posts for a limited period of time on their servers so you can go back and download the beginning of a thread you come into in the middle.  Now, if Google or others started charging direct user fees for visitors to access specific Usenet archives, as opposed to the service fee your ISP gets for simply providing the newsfeed bandwidth, I _would_ have a problem with that.   Making any other use of a Usenet post would IMO also require the permission of the author, such as:

> Really what I am asking is what would be involved in publishing a book
> of usenet posts, from a legal standpoint?

If you intend to publish a book and make use of any of _my_ posts in permanent printed form for sale, I would expect to receive royalties.   And I may not give you my permission, depending on lots of things.  At the very least, even if you are only quoting a small portion of a few posts in a larger book (not a mere collection of other people's Usenet posts), we all would expect full and proper attribution to the original source and identification of the author of each segment quoted.   And if you're reazlly serious about this idea, consult (and pay) a local lawyer competent in intellectual property law FIRST.for a real opinion based on your complete scenario, to avoid digging yourself into a very expensive hole.  I am NOT a copyright lawyer, so my advice is worth what you didn't pay for it.

--
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Mike Jacobs
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