Okay, I need an opinion on this one:
I was wondering since emails, instant messages, etc all contain content relevant to a particular topic, and that you’re the sole creator of that content (not to mention it’s quite unique), can you make select conversations public, and put it on the internet and advertise on it?
note that it’s just an idea, and is probably very wrong, but the content is technically, yours, unique and easily available.
well anything works in this crazy world..
If you’re talking about your end of the conversation, I don’t think I see what the problem is. You probably haven’t signed over copyright to your email host(gmail, for instance, does require that you release some permissions but it doesn’t actually take away your copyright) and you almost certainly haven’t signed it over to the other party. So, if I understand what you’re saying correctly, yes.
If you mean both ends, then no. The other party still has copyright over their text(all hail the Berne convention).
Well, that raises the question that: who ultimately owns your email and your chat transcripts.
I couldn’t find much on the internet, but there’s a legal department at work, which might help me out with this
But turns out these kind of conversations are not exactly “seo friendly”(thank you digital point forums), so the profitability is doubtable.
But in this world of DMCAs everywhere, who owns legal right to the content of your chats and under what license? that’s something that isn’t discussed much anywhere.
I’m not too sure about chat(or shared conversations in general), but the Berne convention definitely applies to email. Therefore, as long as you haven’t explicitly revoked your rights(and, at least with gmail, you haven’t), you own them. Sending it out doesn’t change anything.
IM, I’m not sure about. My guess is you’d have to treat IM the same as email, only speeded up a lot. In this case you’d own copyright on your half of the conversation. Of course, IANAL, talk to a real lawyer before doing anything dangerous.
IANAL, but I think something has to qualify as a ‘literary work’ before it can be copyrighted. You can’t just write ‘cow’ and expect a copyright on that. Or ‘The cow is fat’, or ‘The cow is fat and has four legs’. So a chat conversation would be exempt, unless you do manage to produce a ‘literary work’ over instant messenger.