Law Firm Claims Using Your Browser's "View Source" Is A Copyright Violation

[mandy]

...the law firm that was recently challenged for claiming that it was a copyright violation to post its cease-and-desist letter also has some other interesting ideas about copyright, including banning people from looking at the firm's source code. You can view the entire user agreement, but the amusing part is:

    "We also own all of the code, including the HTML code, and all content. As you may know, you can view the HTML code with a standard browser. We do not permit you to view such code since we consider it to be our intellectual property protected by the copyright laws. You are therefore not authorized to do so." ...

full article: http://techdirt.com/articles/20071017/092927.shtml

[regic]

[BellisimaJ.]

"We also own all of the code, including the HTML code, and all content. As you may know, you can view the HTML code with a standard browser. We do not permit you to view such code since we consider it to be our intellectual property protected by the copyright laws. You are therefore not authorized to do so." .

This reminds me of the first  time I accessed brainstupid's image hosting page (for his sig on ebay stores board). The words "YOU ARE NOT AUTHORIZED TO VIEW THIS PAGE ASSHOLE" were prominently placed on the page.  :

[bargainbloodhound]

Interesting interpretation of copyright law.  :

Copying (creating a derivative work from) the source code would be a copyright violation but I've yet to see any court rule that the act of viewing the original copyrighted material was infringement.

[Kristijntje]

Update: a court ruled that the law firm's C&D letters are protected by copyright. :blinkie:

he US District Court for the District of Idaho has found that copyright law protects a lawyer demand letter posted online by the recipient (Case No. MS-07-6236-EJL-MHW). The copyright decision, in pertinent part, has been made available by Dozier Internet Law, and is the first known court decision in the US to address the issue directly. The Final Judgment calls into serious question the practice of posting lawyer cease and desist letters online, a common tactic used and touted by First Amendment groups to attack legal efforts at resolving everything from defamation to intellectual property disputes.

full article: http://www.prweb.com/releases/DozierInte...650951.htm