[AC-Admins] ANTHROCHAT.NET: Anthrochat & Copyright?

[Scott Garron]

Brett wrote:
> but what is the copyright status of logged chats? Are they 
> open-source/copyright-free? Are they the copyright of anyone in the 
> chat, or is it shared jointly by everyone in the room?

      There are certainly no explicit copyrights on conversational text
being distributed through AnthroChat's servers.  Due to the quasi-public
nature of open channels, I doubt that anyone has any expectation of
implicit copyrights on conversational text, either.  If you were given
logs by someone who was participating in a "public" channel, those logs
were that person's to give, and I don't think anyone would be able to
make a valid copyright claim on their part of the conversation.
Granted, it probably wouldn't stop someone from trying, but I doubt
they'd be able to get very far with it.  Getting permission to use
conversational text from the person(s) involved in those conversations
would be a general courtesy, but I don't think that it's required.

      Incidentally, who passed away last year?  Ruckus?

-- 
Scott "Simba" Garron