Re: Net piracy? +++

[mnementh@netcom.com (David R. Villegas)]

blakjak@panix.com (Noah Mittman) wrote:
>Hello? I might not have been too clear, but that's along the lines of what I
>meant. What I meant by that was it's very easy to come across something that
>is "abandonned", but if you make money off of it, you tend to find
>that the authors who "didn't care" will be seeking some share of the profit.

Part 2 of the Copyright FAQ has this to say about abandonment:

   Abandonment requires that the copyright holder intend to
   abandon the copyright, and generally requires an unambiguous
   statement or overt act on the part of the copyright holder that
   indicates his or her intent to dedicate the work to the public
   domain.  National Comics Pub. v. Fawcett Pub., 191 F.2d 594,
   598 (2d Cir., 1951).  A statement that anyone who wishes to may
   reproduce, perform, or display the work without restrictions
   might be sufficient.  Simply posting it on a computer network
   is not abandonment.