[WikiEN-l] GFDL lawsuits - who can sue?

[Fastfission]

On 5/15/06, Anthony DiPierro <wikilegal at inbox.org> wrote:
> Is it illegal to claim you have copyright control over something you
> do not?  I'm sure there are plently of laws against claiming you
> *wrote* something you didn't, but if you properly attribute the
> authors but tack on a false claim of copyright, I don't see how that
> can be illegal.

As I understand it (again, I am not in any way a lawyer), the relevant
parts of U.S. copyright law are:

   (c) Fraudulent Copyright Notice. - Any person who, with
    fraudulent intent, places on any article a notice of copyright or
    words of the same purport that such person knows to be false, or
    who, with fraudulent intent, publicly distributes or imports for
    public distribution any article bearing such notice or words that
    such person knows to be false, shall be fined not more than $2,500.
     (d) Fraudulent Removal of Copyright Notice. - Any person who,
    with fraudulent intent, removes or alters any notice of copyright
    appearing on a copy of a copyrighted work shall be fined not more
    than $2,500.
      (e) False Representation. - Any person who knowingly makes a
    false representation of a material fact in the application for
    copyright registration provided for by section 409, or in any
    written statement filed in connection with the application, shall
    be fined not more than $2,500.

>From http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/casecode/uscodes/17/chapters/5/sections/section%5F506.html

FF