Re: is email a copyright?
On Sat, 13 May 2000, Chai South <chaisouth@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> I know this question is odd and may seem small in the scheme of
> things. However I have wondered who owns email? Does the sender
> automatically have copyright, that prevents the receiver from
> publishing and or distrubuting the email? or
Yes -- sender has the copyright to his material, and receiver
has the one copy. There may be some implied license to use
the material in certain ways. Also, sometimes fair use comes
into play (but not as often as many would like).
> For example, lets say party A sends an email to party B. Party A
> request that Party B does not share the email. Party B then gives
> the email from party A to party C. Party C takes the email and
> publishes it to a discussion forum, without party A's permission.
IMHO infringement. Sharing the email might have been within the
implied license -- however, the express provision to the contrary
eliminates this defense.
> I know for me it would not ethical to take someone's private email
> and publish it on to a public forum. However I was wondering is
> there a legal issue here, and what is the legal issue, if any?
Copyright infringement.
> I was also wondering if an email is sent from one's place of
> employment, who owns the email, does the employer have a right to
> read the email?
Viewed from a copyright point of view, if the email is within
the scope of employment, then it is probably a work for hire,
and the copyright is owned by the company. There may be
other reasons though for limiting access to email at work.
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The preceding was not a legal opinion, and is not my employer's.
Original portions Copyright 2000 Bruce E. Hayden,all rights reserved
My work may be copied in whole or part, with proper attribution,
as long as the copying is not for commercial gain.
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Bruce E. Hayden bhayden@acm.org
Phoenix, Arizona bhayden@ieee.org
bhayden@copatlaw.com
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