Hi Avengers,
Thanks for the excellent links. The site appears to be a private JW, but I suspect that either the Society is directly behind it, or the JW who owns it is an attorney. The legal citations are too numerous and well researched to be that of a typical JW.
The site owner's "Fair Use" claims against Kent are quite correct. Anything a person puts into print can be copied and quoted for criticism, reference, and supporting proof. International and US Copyright laws are pretty much the same, and are quite flexible as long as the one quoting makes an accurate quote and credits the author, it is pretty much fair game.
That said, there are limits with respect to how much one can copy material that is copyrighted. If you copy an entire work, such as a book or article, for the sole purpose of general distribution, whether for profit or not, and are making no other use, such as commentary or criticism, then the author or copyright holder can bring suit. A recent example is that of certain newspapers suing private individuals who merely "link" to news articles in their own website.
I think I recall that Kent got into difficulty when he hosted a copy of the Elder's manual, "Shepherds of the Flock" ... and had to change the way he did things. If he, or others, had made commentary and criticism on each and every section of the book, then little could have been done.
Under US law, your written material can be considered under copyright the minute you record it on any media whether written, photo, electronic, etc. You do "not" have to register your work with the US Patent & Copyright office, though this is a good thing to do. It is much like real property recordings. You can buy real property and not record the deed, but it could bite you later when you try to sell it, or enforce your property rights.
The site you linked is a keeper, thanks! I also think the site should be monitored as the pedophile lawsuits mature. It will be interesting to see if the site host is honest enough to comment on these, especially when the Watchtower Society does not prevail. - Jim W.
PS: The notion of suing people who copy a post, or for a poster who seriously tries to copyright a post is silly. I can just the see the jury's faces now as they listen to the Plaintiff attorney argue how Farkel made improper use of Amazing's posts on JWD in violation of Interantinal Copyright Law. They could not contain the laughter.
