Copyright question

[nikkilt28]

What is the name of your state? MO

not sure if this is under the right category. is a copyright law violated if you post an email you received on a public internet forum?

 

[quincy]

Yes. You may have possession of the email, but the writer of the email retains the copyright to the words written. It is only with permission of the copyright owner that you can reproduce the email in any form.

 

[divgradcurl]

Yes. You may have possession of the email, but the writer of the email retains the copyright to the words written. It is only with permission of the copyright owner that you can reproduce the email in any form.

"Maybe" is a better answer. An email may not be sufficiently creative to fall under copyright; posting the email (even the entire email) may be a "fair use" of the work even if it is covered by copyright; finally, the recipient of an email may have an implied license to reproduce the email -- this last point is not completely clear, as there is caselaw both ways on this. My point is, this is not as cut-and-dried as you suggest.

 

[quincy]

Yes, you are right that "maybe" may be a better answer.

However, personal letters and diaries have consistently been found by courts to be copyright protected, and upon the creation of any original work, it is generally deemed that the work is copyrighted and belongs to the author (barring "work-for-hire" or other agreements to the contrary). As copyright holder, then, the author of an email is given the exclusive rights to reproduce, distribute and display the email, just as a personal letter-writer or diary-writer would have with their writings.

In addition, the posting without permission of any letter, be it email or otherwise, can lead to invasion of privacy actions.

(Just because I am curious, what caselaw do you have on email publication? - since I know you have nothing better to do )

 

[divgradcurl]

However, personal letters and diaries have consistently been found by courts to be copyright protected, and upon the creation of any original work, it is generally deemed that the work is copyrighted and belongs to the author (barring "work-for-hire" or other agreements to the contrary).

I understand this -- but nothing in the OP's post stated or implied that the email was the equivalent of a "personal letter or diary." Not everything written down is covered by copyright -- it's gotta have some creativity. Not much, admittedly, but some.

In addition, the posting without permission of any letter, be it email or otherwise, can lead to invasion of privacy actions

This isn't a copyright issue, and in fact, isn't generally correct. Just posting a letter without permission isn't going to create an "invasion of privacy" action unless the contents of the letter meet one of the criteria for a defamatory writing (false light, publication of personal facts, etc.).

(Just because I am curious, what caselaw do you have on email publication? - since I know you have nothing better to do )

There are a couple of district court cases on implied licenses, you can look them up in Nimmer, I don't have it in front of me. I don't think the cases are email-specific, but the concept of implied license exists nonetheless. My suspicion -- I don't have any law on this, just my suspicion -- is that if this were a one-person to one-person correspondence, it would be hard to show an implied license, but if it were a one-to-many correspondence, an implied license is more likely.

 

[quincy]

Actually, every case I have run across, from English common-law and Millar v. Taylor (1769) and Pope v. Curl (1741), through to Folsom v. Marsh and Grimmelman and Harper & Row, Pub. Inc. (1985) to 2006 cases like APG v MCI Telecoms Corp all seem to support the fact that emails are copyrighted material and common-law copyright principles apply. I cannot locate any cases that conclude emails are not to be treated as private communicatons and copyrighted works.