Re:The New York Times just stole our column. Should we sue?
by jacques_chester on Wednesday February 08, 2012 @07:36PM
(#3569271)
I am not a copyright lawyer, but I suspect very strongly that copying and distributing an entire copyrighted document doesn't constitute fair use.
If they'd name checked it and used a quote or two, fine.
Re:The New York Times just stole our column. Should we sue?
by edgeman27 on Wednesday February 08, 2012 @07:47PM
(#3569299)
Is it okay if I write an article in 40 years time about wizards, then scan in my Harry Potter hardback as context/background?
Re:The New York Times just stole our column. Should we sue?
by donohoe on Wednesday February 08, 2012 @10:27PM
(#3569667)
I understand the point you are trying to make - but the devil is in the details.
I don't think a Article and a Book can be properly compared. I also suspect that Harry Potter won't be out of print (digitally or otherwise), and as of now has a clear copyright holder to which you could ask (likes like original Times article includes interview with original author and may have their consent for what thats worth).
Each case is on its merits, and this is far from clear-cut. It is my opinion that this is very well fair use but there are plenty of opposing view-points here.
I also believe that if the author has a legitimate claim it doesn't take 30 paragraphs to make a case.
Did you read it through? It took me a few reads to figure out the specifics of what he was talking about.
I'm guessing that the view by people here is that the NYTimes took an the Article and published it standalone, by itself, as they would one of their owns, without attribution.
That wasn't the case.
The NYT wrote an article, referenced the one in the PDF, and provided a copy of the PDF (of an old black/white scan) as context/background.