Joan, I'm disappointed that you disagree with several of my conclusions. That doesn't leave much with which you did agree. I'd be happy to discuss each of your disagreements, one at a time. You said, "I disagree with several of your conclusions but the most glaring is... 'Distribution is a right of the copyright holder.'" You go on to say, "Distribution rights don't always go hand in hand with copyright. Take RootsWeb mailing lists for example. We own the copyright to any original text of our emails to list--and yet we grant RootsWeb (per the AUP) the right to distribute and redistribute." You just about proved my point. The author of an email holds the copyright, but also holds the distribution rights. When a person writes to a mailing list, it is with the assumption that the email will be distributed. Therefore, the copyright holder is implicitly granting the mailing list the right to distribute the copyrighted email. We couldn't "grant RootsWeb... the right to distribute and redistribute" if we didn't have the right to grant it. Owning the copyright is what gives us the right to control distribution. See circular 92 of the U.S. Copyright Office (next). http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html#106 "§ 106. Exclusive rights in copyrighted works Subject to sections 107 through 122 [fair use, educational use, etc.], the owner of copyright under this title has the exclusive rights to do and to authorize any of the following: (1) to reproduce the copyrighted work in copies or phonorecords; (2) to prepare derivative works based upon the copyrighted work; ***(3) to distribute copies or phonorecords of the copyrighted work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending;" <snip> [rights 4-6 were omitted] ~~~~~~~~~ Joan, if you still disagree about the copyright owner having the right to control distribution, I'd like to hear your reasons. If you now agree, let's discuss the next conclusion of mine with which you disagree. Cliff Lamere ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ JYoung6180@aol.com wrote: > >In a message dated 4/15/2006 1:28:02 AM Eastern Standard Time, >clifflamere@nycap.rr.com writes: > >Distribution is a right of the copyright holder. > > >I disagree with several of your conclusions but the most glaring is the >above. Distribution rights don't always go hand in hand with copyright. Take >RootsWeb mailing lists for example. We own the copyright to any original text >of our emails to list--and yet we grant RootsWeb (per the AUP) the right to >distribute and redistribute. > >Joan > > > > >