PROGRAMMES, CONFERENCES AND ADDRESSES

Copyright in programme formats – but not that sort

The Herald reports that the producer of Menopause: the Musical, is being sued for copyright infringement by Tampa-based internet company Baby Boomers Headquarters. Rather than relating to the musical itself, the allegation is that the producer copied a survey owned by the company in their programme. The writer-producer says that she received the survey in a chain email a number of years ago and didn’t realise that anyone owned it.

The IPKat says that the sad truth is that pretty much everything that is written is protected by copyright, including spam. Perhaps there is implied consent to copy or distribute the contents of such emails, but the consent probably wouldn’t extend to reproducing it in another form.

More from ATRIP

The IPKat thanks Stefano Sandri for sharing his thoughts on ATRIP with him and his readers. You can see them here.

New contact details

IPKat co-blogger Ilanah has started a new job at Brunel University, where she is a lecturer. With it comes yet another email address for her already extensive collection. Now if you want to contact her, please use this address: Ilanah.Simon@brunel.ac.uk.