Re: Press Release Copyright (was RE: Howard Stern In Denver)

["Douglas J. Broda" <dougbroda@mindspring.com>]

At 04:52 PM 4/29/99 -0400, Sven Weil wrote:
>Judging from my old job as a newspaper reporter/proof reader, we routinely
>published press releases (with slight rearranging, of course) in their
>entirety. 
>
>They were mailed to our offices with THE INTENTION of being published. I
>don't wee where this differs from a regular newspaper in that sense. It
>wasn't used for any financial gain.
>

Well, the law's not always logical....

I do know that the lack of financial gain isn't utterly determinative.
(Example: the Lyrics Server that was shut down that posted music lyrics,
which certainly didn't make money for its creator/maintainer (ad revenues
were less than hosting costs), but was still a near-certain copyright
violation.)

As for the intent, I think you're quite right when a newspaper to which a
release is sent uses it. But would that imply a consent to its
redistribution by someone other than a newspaper or other directed
recipient? I don't know. But I'm sure some judge has decided this
somewhere, and I'd *hope* that the decision was that it's not a violation.


Douglas J. Broda
Broda and Burnett
Attorneys at Law
80 Ferry Street, Troy, NY 12180 USA
(518) 272-0580
dougbroda@mindspring.com

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