<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>From a legal viewpoint however, proof is needed<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Not at all, and certainly not to
start a legal action - which costs the defendant money regardless of how far the suit proceeds or what the outcome is.
Art Buchwald successfully sued the studio and producers responsible for the film
Coming to America for lifting ideas from one of his columns. He didn't need "proof" that the individuals concerned had actually read that particular column. (What would constitute "proof" of something like that, anyway? A picture of Eddie Murphy reading the appropriate page of that day's
Washington Post or
Los Angeles Times?)
Buchwald's column is so widely syndicated that it is
presumed that the defendants would have had
access to it, at least. Then the issue became how closely the film resembled the column.
Same thing with Harlan Ellison's (successful) lawsuit againt James Cameron over
The Terminator. Ellison cited similarities between the movie and two of his short stories, both of which he himself adapted for the original
Outer Limits TV series. The fact that Ellison didn't have proof that Cameron had watched those particular episodes, either the first time through or in reruns, was not an issue.
If Buchwald had published in an obscure literary quarterly, or Ellison in a low-circulation SF magazine that went out of business before Cameron was born (and neither had ever been anthologized) the issue of access probably would have come up.
Applying all this to the internet is tricky. Links and search engines make finding otherwise obscure sources easy. I don't know where the courts have come down on the issue of "presumed access" with regard to the 'net. But JMS is probably wise in staying away from sites known to carry story ideas and fan fic. If nothing else he might comment on a post from such a site, forgetting where he originally saw it, and thereby provide "proof" that he was reading it.
Regards,
Joe
------------------
Joseph DeMartino
Sigh Corps
Pat Tallman Division
joseph-demartino@att.net
But I could see how JMS might find some fun in his NBS use or the "songs that would drive Londo insane" threads. He seems to have a great sense of humor. Heck, he's a cat lover, and cat lovers learn to laugh or they don't stay cat lovers for long!
