question about mailing lists license ,

[Graham Todd]

On Wed, 4 Nov 2009 11:16:11 +0330
a dehqan <dehqan65 at gmail.com> uttered these words:

> In The Name Of God The compassionate merciful
> 
> Good day everyone ;
> Thanks everyone for attentions ;
> YES , Iran is not a signatory to the international treaty regarding
> copyright but as it has been told our religion ESLAM does not allow
> us to copy others post without their permission .

Copyright is a matter of law, and (for instance) there is a difference
in the reason for copyright to exist at all in European countries and
the United States.  It has to be codified in a way in domestic
legislation for it to be internationally acceptable for people in one
jurisdiction to accept it in another jurisdiction.

The international community do not accept the edicts of any particular
religion (be it Islam, Judaism or Roman Catholicism - to name only
three) as a substitute for it to be codified in a body of law.  There
are people who practice Islam in different jurisdictions (for instance,
the United Kingdom, the United States, France) and it is the body of
law in each of those jurisdictions which determines whether a matter is
legal or actionable.

As Iran is not a signatory to the international conventions and treaties
on copyright, its law in this jurisdiction has not been found
acceptable in other jurisdictions, so provides no protection for
authors in those other jurisdictions.
> 
> Graham Todd
> You say that the list owner does not hold copyright and individual
> posters hold copyright to their posts , If so we should just ask
> permission from writer . To be sure 100% , would you give a
> certificate/writ/voucher/ that list does not have any copyright for
> posts/mails ?

I am not a copyright lawyer and to give you the sort of guarantees you
seek, you would have to consult a specialist copyright lawyer.

However, Iran has not become a signatory to the various conventions
and treaties on copyright, and it's law does not give protection of
copyright to works written or composed outside of Iran.  As the list
is composed mainly of those living in the United States and Western
Europe, anything we write may have the protection of copyright in our
jurisdictions but not in Iran.  That's the point.

> ULTIMATELY, however, there is an easier way. Rather than publish
> > others' words, I believe you would be BEST served by writing the
> > same information yourself using your OWN words,
> >
> >
> So Witing  posts/mails/others words  in our OWN words  make us not to
> regard their copyrights yes ?

Even if you rewrite the text, it will not have copyright in Iran if it
is written outside that country, only if it is written inside Iran.

Now, events could have preceded me and my researches might have provided
information that is out of date and the only way you are going to know
is if you consult a specialist copyright lawyer.

I think neither of us can add anything more useful to this discussion,
so lets leave it at that.

-- 
Graham Todd