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

[Anthony DiPierro]

Thanks for the link.  I was unaware of this particular law.

The law you point out seems to be written as a law against society,
with the fine going to the government.  Maybe the courts have also
recognized it as a tort, though.

Also, as you mention, the standard (fraudulent intent) is quite high.

Anthony

On 5/15/06, Fastfission <fastfission at gmail.com> wrote:
> 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
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