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Have your client take a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_domain , specifically the section "Public domain and the Internet" and the subsection immediately following it, "Freely obtained does not mean free to republish." Toward the bottom of the web page, they're both short and sweet, and should lend clarity to the situation.
If you need additional umpf, you can always pull a few cites out of http://www.copyright.gov/title17/ , U.S. Copyright Office -- Copyright Law of the United States.
jan cohen
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!
Traci Pearson
Pearson Technical Communication
Writing, Editing, Information Design ? Print and Online
pearsontechcomm -at- comcast -dot- net
(303) 410-9101
When something can be read without great effort,
great effort went into its writing.
~ Enrique Jardiel Poncela
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
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Create HTML or Microsoft Word content and convert to Help file formats or
printed documentation. Features include support for Windows Vista & 2007
Microsoft Office, team authoring, plus more. http://www.DocToHelp.com/TechwrlList
True single source, conditional content, PDF export, modular help.
Help & Manual is the most powerful authoring tool for technical
documentation. Boost your productivity! http://www.helpandmanual.com
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