Re: Client misunderstanding of public domain

[Writers Book Mall <steve -at- writersbookmall -dot- com>]

Sounds like the client is confusing public domain with
published. If you're looking to avoid conflict while
making your point, you might be able to present this
as a funny misunderstanding of some kind. "Oh, I
thought you said 'public domain' when you must have
said 'published'!"


--- Traci Pearson <pearsontechcomm -at- comcast -dot- net> wrote:

> Aargh!
> I've got a client who insists that I use content 
> that is posted on the Web in a manual I'm doing 
> for them. Not only that, they want me to edit the 
> content to match the style of their manual.
> 
> The writer of the content on the Web is someone 
> they know and, apparently, he said they could use 
> his manual (what he has posted on the web) to 
> give to their (my client's) customers if they
> wanted.
> 
> I told my client they'd better get express 
> permission, preferably in writing, to actually 
> use that content in their own manual (which will 
> have my client's copyright on it) as well as
> permission to edit that content.
> 
> One of their (my client's) managers said, No, 
> they don't have to. It's posted on the Internet 
> and therefore it is now "public property."
> 
> Obviously, this isn't so. But my notes from my 
> Law classes are buried in the basement and I 
> can't remember the Act that spells this out. 
> (And, honestly, there's probably been new laws 
> that spell this out since I took those notes!)
> 
> Can anyone help me out here? I don't want to get 
> into a moral/ethical/legal issue here with my 
> client, so I'd like to point them to a source 
> where they can read for themselves that Internet 
> content is by no means necessarily public domain.
> 
> Thanks!


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