[thelist] legalities of posting received emails on a website

matt g mrg at members.evolt.org
Sun Nov 17 23:35:00 CST 2002


> From: Kid Stevens <dragon-vision at comcast.net>
>
> When I give someone a painting and say it is yours or send you e-mail
> it also becomes yours.......  You hold it, you own it, unless
> proven otherwise in court.

What follows does not necessarily apply to spam, or to spammers, but the
basic premise should be understood by anyone with the power to publish,
which means everyone on this list.

So that painting that you gave to me... I can hang it in my home, or I can
sell it as a painting by you, or I can destroy it with scissors - because I
own that physical object. What I *can't* do is sell it as my own work, or
sell the right to use the painted image on postcards, a book cover, or
anything else - unless you, as the creator and copyright owner, assign those
rights to me.

You have no ownership of the *content* that your (snail) mail contains - no
more than you have ownership of a movie's characters and plot when you buy
the DVD, or ownership of the prose of a novel when you buy the book. You own
the plastic and/or the paper that they're printed on, and you own the right
to view/read them.

matt g.





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