Somewhat OT: copyright question

[djgoku]

On 6/12/05, Jack <quiet_celt at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Please tell us which case of the hundreds in this
> FAQ is the one you are referring to. 

Search Function is your friend. =)

Playboy Enterprises, Inc. v. George Frena.  839 F.Supp. 1552 (M.D. Fla., 1993).

    George Frena, the sysop of the Techs Warehouse BBS, had 170
digitized images from both Playboy and Playgirl magazine posted to his
computerized bulletin board system.  The two magazines were commercial
adult publications protected under copyright law.  Playboy
Enterprises, owner and publisher of both magazines, sued Frena for
copyright infringement.  The Federal District Court acknowledged
Frena's claims that the uploading had been done by his users without
his approval; however, it still found him liable for intellectual
property violation.  It ruled that Frena's users had illegaly copied
the pictures by digitizing them; furthermore, Frena had infringed on
exclusive vendor distribution rights by making the pictures available
for download by his users.  It also found Frena in violation of
trademark law, since the infringing material contained registered
trademarks belonging to Playboy Enterprises (the Playboy and Playgirl
logos).

    This case established two things.  First, courts can find against
a defendant in an intellectual property dispute whether or not the
defendant is aware of such activity.  Second, intellectual property
protection extends to all copies of a given work regardless of how
they are made or the media on which they are presented.

all information taken from:
http://www.worldofspectrum.org/EmuFAQ2000/AppendixB.htm