Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

Re: I Require Permission

Author:Ben Griffiths
Posted:9/3/1999; 5:12:11 AM
Topic:Automated deep linking
Msg #:10492 (In response to 10491)
Prev/Next:10491 / 10493

It may help to think about copyright as it applied to non-electronic media (and probably electronic too). Copyright subsists in both text and layout for the purpose of preventing blatant copying of a work and to stop such work being falsely attributed or treated in a derogatory manner. Infringement only takes place when work is copied, not when it is linked to, referenced or credited. Copyright is also free and automatic (whether you use the © symbol or not).

Lawyers make their accountants very happy while trying to tease around the edges of this definition, but fundamentally it's workable and useful, isn't it?

Scrapers (human or digital) are only infringing copyright if cite a substantial portion of the work without permission or they claim credit for the work rather than merely cite it.

You're right to say the web is a linking medium, so why do we need to copy stuff when we can link to it instead?

Ben

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