by Jourles 72 Replies latest jw friends
Ok well I am totally clueless about such things, but I happen to be boffing someone who is an expert on such matters! Hee hee!
Between our sessions of doing it like viagra bunnies, he has mentioned an interest in copyright law or something like that...haha!
Do you want me to put you in touch with him?
I will give him the link to this thread anyway.
Hi. I'm not a JW or an ex-JW (just dating one, joannadandy). And I'm NOT A LAWYER. But I am a law student specializing in copyright law. This isn't legal advice, and I think you should talk to a lawyer about your situation if the threats go any further. How sure are you that it's the letters they're upset about? Because those books you posted are still protected under copyright law. The first one I saw was copyright 1942, and will be protected until 2037. I have a feeling these are what WTS is getting upset about -- especially since publishing correspondence one receives is not a common subject of infringement suits. You say the books are in the public domain. What makes you think this? They carry copyright notices (which is not now required but was required until 1976).
Jourles,
Keep on truckin' babe. Try to swallow that f.e.a.r. you feel regarding Watchtower discovering who you are. It's just that...(F)ALSE (E)VIDENCE (A)PPEARING (R)EAL.
now trying to COVER UP letters dealing with abuse that have been made public on the Internet combined with how they are going after abuse victims for costs in law suits where they have been found negligent... I could see a few papers picking up that story.
Uzzah, I see, likes to build 'snowballs' too. This one could PROVE to be a huge avalanch if dealt with strategically. Try, please, please...try to swallow some of this f.e.a.r. you are allowing yourSELF to be consumed by and consider going to the media. Watchtower is expecting you to piss your pants on this. Don't give them the satisfaction. Or at least, please try not to. They want you to be Afraid! Stand tall and stand proud! There is NOTHING to F.E.A.R. here. Not anymore.
Not sure if you saw a post I made in the 'Boer' case, yet I state that I intend to set into motion a 'chain of events'. I have thus done so. And THIS is just the sort of ammo I need for one of those 'chain links'.
Keep your head up high and stand firm. Don't allow them to swallow you up Alive.
sKally
jourles,
I'm glad you got this responce. I was prepared that first night to keep bumping this to the top. Now I can hardly keep up with it.
Six,
Your problem Jourles, is that you are reproducing the entire work, w/o any commentary. You would actually be on much firmer legal ground if you offered liberal commentary thru-out each work you publish, ie. if you highlighted and italicized and occasionally put your own thoughts in brackets. Then you could more readily make the claim that you are using copywrited WT material for criticism purposes.
Is this true? Is it as simple as this. LadyLee posted a lot of good stuff from Copywrite.gov but this sounds like another angle. Can we get verification on this?
Jst2laws
Steve, yes, it would be just that simple, but I suspect that defeats much of what Jourles wants to do, which is to get believing witnesses to read the letters. Much of the beauty of the "Quotes" site, is that it is all offered w/o commentary, save for the commentary that naturally arises in ones own mind when reading such WT quotes. But again, the big difference is that "Qoutes.com" uses snippets, and is obviously (contextually) a form of criticism and research (two seperate fair use qualities).
Personally, I think that the dirtclod site is unlikely to be found outside of the laws regarding fair use, and I suspect the society knows this. Doesn't mean they won't try a little bullying to shut it down though. The question is how much bullying they will try. I think that the fact that so many of these letters deal with child abuse, and WT's attempts to silence them might be made very public (givin the press' interest in them right now), means that the WT might not take this too far. After all, it would likely just work to spread them around the internet more, and get honest people curious over what they want to hide.
Ps. I just went to see what dreamword was talking about, and I agree, the books are much more likely to be the problem. I don't know if there might be extenuating circumstances that would make for publishing the books being fair use? The books are out of print, WT pubs are offered freely, etc., again, no financial damage, that's for sure.
Dreamworld,
How do you figure that a book published in 1942 is copyrighted until 2037?
You are applying TODAY'S 95 year copyright term (a big THANK YOU to the American music industry and Sonny Bono - NOT!).
In 1942, the copyright term was 28 years; therefore, the copyright would have expired in 1970 unless it was renewed.
And guess what? It was NOT renewed in 1970 according to the public records of the copyright office, therfore it is in the public domain today.
The Watchtower Society never renewed any of the copyrights on their publications prior to the year 1989. In 1989 they had a flash of "new light" (that Armageddon was not going to come -ever) and began renewing the copyrights on every publication they've ever printed, realizing that this stategy would impede the free flow of factual information to the Dub dupes who were victims of constantly revised an falsified history.
If you can present some facts that disprove my above statements, I am eager to hear them.
For those books to fall under public domain, they must have been printed prior to 1964 and not had their copyright's renewed. The original creator of those scanned books assured myself and many others that they were not renewed by the WTS. If that is the case, the WTS can do nothing about those books being online in complete form.
As the email from my ISP said, "images" and "letters" were the complaint. "Letters" could only refer to the BOE letters, and "images" could be in reference to the digital form of those letters. But until I receive a copy of this complaint, I have no clue as to what the WTS is barking about.
Skally, I am not in fear of the WTS, but rather just trying to maintain my anonymous ties to the website. Very few people on this board know me personally and I trust that they would never rat me out. Typically, if someone I do not know tries to correspond with me, I will use anonymous mail systems, proxies, etc. But if someone from this board who is a long-time member corresponds, I do not use those hidden resources. I just hope I never offend someone enough to warrant them sending any of my personal information to the WTS.
And for those who are still interested in the BOE letters, I may know where to find a zipped copy of them on the web. If you IM me, I might recall where they are located.
And guess what? It was NOT renewed in 1970 according to the public records of the copyright office, therfore it is in the public domain today.
Doh! It looks like we were reading the same thing Nathan.
Nathan,
And guess what? It was NOT renewed in 1970 according to the public records of the copyright office, therfore it is in the public domain today.
The Watchtower Society never renewed any of the copyrights on their publications prior to the year 1989. In 1989 they had a flash of "new light" (that Armageddon was not going to come -ever) and began renewing the copyrights on every publication they've ever printed, realizing that this stategy would impede the free flow of factual information to the Dub dupes who were victims of constantly revised an falsified history.
Good research. I didn't know this.
Dreamworld,
Thanks for your voluntary contribution to our issues. There have been many non JW's see the issues and volunteer for the cause of justice. As you see it is not going to be a simple task but I hope as you continue your law studies you have us in mind.
Jst2laws
