[Sca-cooks] Re: Pennsic Class Notes

[Barbara Nostrand]

Noble Cousins!

Greetings from Solveig!

>  >Now... there might be a hybrid way around this.  Stefan, or some
>>other volunteer, could solicit handouts from particular instructors
>>or from instructors on a particular topic, have the instructor sign
>>the web permission form, and use it after Pennsic.  We already have
>>a permission form that was approved for use.  Any folk want to
>  >become AS volunteers for handout collection??

Under the Berne Convention and current U.S. Copyright Law, any
expression of ideas rendered into tangible form is automatically
under copyright from the moment of creation. There are a few
exceptions to this. The work of U.S. federal employees executed
as part of their job is automatically in the public domain. This
includes secret documents whose reproduction is limited by
secrecy laws and not by copyright.

What this means. Almost any hand out that you receive at a Society
scholae is under copyright. The status of stuff on the internet is
less well understood. However, I believe that the Digital Millenium
Copyright Act brings material on the internet under copyright
protection.

A recent New York court decision on reproductions of graphic media
not under copyright holds that photographic reproduction of such
works as paintings, woodblock prints, &c do not bring the material
under copyright. Rather, the photographic reproductions themselves
automatically enter the public domain. THe reason for this is the
lack of an expressive element in such reproductions.

What this means is that a reproduction of a single graphic item
from prior to 1601 can be freely used, but probably not a whole
page of such reproductions and definitely not any accompanying
modern descriptive text.

				Your Humble Servant
				Solveig Throndardottir
				Amateur Scholar

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| Barbara Nostrand, Ph.D.         | Solveig Throndardottir, CoM       |
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