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OT: Copyright of posts? 29-Sep-2010 At 10:58:51 AM dave h.

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Copyright remains with the author or creator of a "work", in the absence of any arrangements to the contrary. I won't go in to what constitutes a work, but I don't think it's certain that (most) posts on an internet forum would constitute works. An example of an arrangement to the contrary would be if you commissioned an artist to paint a portrait of yourself - in that case you, as the commissioning person, would get copyright, whereas the normal situation would be for a painter to get the copyright.

But in any case I don't think copyright law is the appropriate vehicle for stopping the media from using posts. My lecturer last semester would always say that copyright protects the "expression of ideas", rather than the ideas per se. So unless the journo is quoting biggish chunks of posts wholesale then I don't think there's much of a case to be made.

There are also things called moral rights, which remain with authors and cannot be transferred (licensed, sold, etc) to other people. There are three moral rights: the right to be attributed as an author, the right not to be falsely attributed as an author, and the right to integrity of authorship.

Integrity of authorship is the right not to have your work treated in a derogatory way - for instance, there was a Canadian case in which a shopping centre bought a sculpture of 60 ducks in flight. They then put ribbons around the ducks' necks as Christmas decorations. The artist felt that this was derogatory treatment of his work. The court upheld his clam, but a mere subjective feeling - "I feel hurt" - isn't enough: there was expert evidence in this case from other artists and people qualified in the field which supported his view.