[Loch-ruadh] A&S newsletter

[Sluggy!]

Greetings!

Dohmnall O'Ruairc wrote:

> I currently recieve via email a A&S newsletter that is from Atenveldt.

(snip)

> If so I would be happy to pass it along either by individual
> email or through the list.

Hey, guy. I don't want to be a wet blanket, but before you consider
forwarding that newsletter, especially in whole, you might want to check
the copyright notice contained within it. Generally speaking, anything
you can subscribe to, paid or not, has some legal protection against
unauthorized distribution. Legally, it can only be redistributed if
their copyright notice specifies that it can be freely distributed.

The legal risk is actually fairly small unless someone wants a crusade.
SCA publishers are unlikely to feel particularly cheated if a few extra
people see their works, but there are two important principles at work
here.

First, if it's a free publication, encourage others it subscribe to the
newsletter instead of redistributing it. This allows the publishers to
know how many people are reading their works and to tailor works to
their audiences. This also means that you don't have the task of
maintaining a list of subscribers.

Second, if it _is_ a paid subscription, by redistributing it, you are
denying them rightful funds, a resource that may well allow them to
expand the scope and coverage of their publication. While people in the
SCA are not as likely as the general public to jump to litigaion for a
remedy, someone so inclined could successfully sue for lost income.

Hope this works out...

Sluggy!