[WikiEN-l] Knol - Our first major scandel

[Ray Saintonge]

Anthony wrote:
> On Sun, Apr 26, 2009 at 5:52 AM, geni wrote:
>   
>> 2009/4/26  <WJhonson at aol.com>:
>>     
>>> I, along with seven other co-authors, write an article on say.... Cheese
>>> Whiz.  In the article we state that anyone may copy the article, provided that
>>>       
>>> they state where they got it from, and that the article may be copied by
>>> anyone else provided that they state where they got it from...
>>>
>>> Can I alone bring a lawsuit against anyone else copying the article without
>>>       
>>> stating where they got it from?  Since the article is not exactly
>>> *copyright* I would say it's freely licensed under one condition.  Does
>>>       
>> this really
>>     
>>> fall under copyright law?  Or would it be more in the way of a standard
>>> contract?
>>>       
>> It falls under copyright law. See Jacobsen v. Katzer.
>>
>> Multiple authors for the most part isn't a problem. With the possible
>> exception of a few major battleground or very popular articles most
>> wikipedia articles have someone who would have standing to sue.
>>     
> In Will's example it's even easier than that, as there's no GFDL muddying
> the waters, so the article is more likely a work of joint authorship, so
> therefore *all* the authors have an undivided interest in the work, and
> therefore standing to sue.
Yes, and, absent any agreement to the contrary, any one of those same 
authors may grant a free licence.

Ec